Naru's Moving Castle
by witchhuntress
Summary: Howl's Moving Castle with a Ghost Hunt twist - AU ― CHAPTER 4 UPDATED!
1. In Which Mai is Bewitched

**A/N: I would have made this in first person point of view. But then, I couldn't help thinking: Weren't fairytale or fantasy stories always in omniscient or third-person limited? ^^ And so, to have the wicked feeling of rambling narrators, this would be in third person.^^**

━**THIS HAS BEEN EDITED.━**

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><p><strong>Terms;<strong>

**Nippon=Nihon=Japan**

**Wō=is another name for Japan, again. It's the extremely ancient name though and means 'dwarfs' (which I think sort of refers to the people =.=)**

**Maou=witch; devil; evil spirit**

**Mochi=glutinous rice cake**

**Geta=wooden clogs, Japanese style**

**Makizushi=**

**Miko=shrine priestess**

**Taro=ube**

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><p><strong>XDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~<strong>

**I. In which Mai is bewitched .I**

**XDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~**

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><p>Mai Taniyama sighed for the umpteenth time that day. Business was booming in the tea shop, as usual, and she'd been rather busy enough to kill boredom in her midst.<p>

But, that was not the reason why she'd sighed more than she'd blinked her chocolate brown eyes.

Truthfully, she did not have a very good sleep again. Lately, she had been bombarded by her dreams―dreams of past and future, to be exact―and she always found herself waking up in the middle of the night and then not again and then again...

It was making her crazy.

Though, it was not really something out of the ordinary for her.

Consecutive dreams, like what she always had, occurred when she would have a lot of customers the next day. They're mostly about the customers: about what situations they have, why they would like to buy tea, what they expect to gain from the tea, and etcetera. At rare times, Mai would dream about ominous things like a kitten dying on the street or house fires that were about to happen―and so far, they all had come true.

Now, what was truly problematic about her dreams was that she had to keep in mind all the details about them―especially every dream regarding prospective customers. The tea shop was her life, breath, key to survival, or whatchamacallit. She had been stuck to it for the entire sixteen years, and she would probably be glued to it throughout her lifespan.

Once more, Mai soughed and blew her auburn fringe out of her face after flipping the tea shop's door sign. It was actually the Cherry Blossoms Festival, and everyone else had retired earlier than her from their inclinations to meet up in the spacious areas of Market Nippon.

Mai was quite fond of festivals, actually. But since her parents died and her sisters went off to different places, she'd been left with herself. She had friends though―Michiru and Keiko; yet, the two of them were too busy with their own gossips to notice her dilemma.

She had to admit, though, that if not for her friends' busybodying, she would have been continuously nonchalant. Somehow, if not because of Michiru and Keiko's gossiping, Mai wouldn't have been acquainted with the inundating of Maou of the Waste or the scuttling of Wizard Shibuya's castle on the hills over Market Nippon. Indeed, if she hadn't heard of the two terror freaks, she wouldn't have started to be wary for herself―especially when she's always alone in the tea shop.

_But there's nothing much to worry actually_, she thought courageously.

Maou of the Waste was said to be insecure, and in Mai's self-perception, she was not pretty enough to be envied by the Maou and be annihilated in the spot. With her 'beauty,' she's also confident that Wizard Shibuya wouldn't tear her heart out and gobble it.

Anyway, Mai glanced at the wall clock across the door and discovered that she must be off. Subsequently she turned away from the tea shop's door and approached her small teal counter to grab a simple straw hat―with wax-made strawberries and cherries and silk trimming―and slung over her white leather knapsack. For the occasion, she didn't bother to change her plain gray kimono and cedar wood geta into fancier ones and just let her plaited auburn hair be fastened securely by a bland crimson rubber band. Albeit she doesn't mind spending time for grooming, she had long ago passed the ladylike job to her sisters whom she regarded as more comely than her and, thereby, more suitable to do such a task.

Making sure the containers were well-placed and orderly, Mai looked around her tea shop one more time. Then, after checking the appropriate contents in her knapsack, Mai strode off and locked the door.

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><p><strong>XDXDXDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~<strong>

Market Nonagon was a town that's famous for its...er...nine sides―well, nine stores actually. Such emporiums were situated in the heart of the town's numerous apartments and townhouses.

A marble fountain with a pavilion lay in the middle of the shopping center. Around the fountain, cherry blossom trees occupied what the bermuda grasses did not grow on. The so-called Sakura Park―surrounding the fountain and resting inside the seclusion of the stores―was a classic for wandering circus, bards, couples, soloists, and children. Beyond the nonagon-shaped park lay a wide pavement where people (of Western or traditional Wō clothing) schlepped to and fro different shops.

Market Nonagon was a neighboring town of Market Nippon. Only a lord's farm separated the two, so the townsfolk could just travel by foot when they needed to cross over. Mai was in a hurry though, so she took the fastest bus she could think of.

It was still early in the evening. The sun had not set yet, and the people were just starting to gather in the park. Besides the cherry blossoms viewing, fireworks also assumed their roles in the annual festival.

_There will be a lot of people soon_, Mai mused.

Hopping off from a red and yellow bus, Mai found her way to SPR, a simple mochi shop. Its walls were in lemon chiffon, and it only had a wide counter on the front. Shelves of boxed mochis were located at the back of the counter. In between the counter and the shelves, then, Mai spotted Madoka's maroon-ish brown hair and a pink-haired girl; in a clearer view, both were in a creamy dress with peach-colored apron and a matching nurse-like headdress.

The front of the shop's counter was packed with people; almost everyone was calling for Madoka, and almost everyone were men of all ages. Madoka, as best as she could, would wink to anyone who called her name lovingly as a sort of fan service during the wait for orders. Indeed, Mai couldn't help thinking that it seemed like the shop's increase in profits depended on Madoka.

Anyway, amidst the ruckus, Mai inhaled and exhaled and called, "Madoka-nee!"

She jumped up and down while waving a hand, and Madoka instantaneously whipped her head to Mai. If it had something to do with affinity, the sisters would always immediately notice and hear one another's calls ever since they'd grown used to one another's presence.

"Mai!" Madoka returned excitedly. After giving a boxed mochi with blown kisses, she whispered something to her pink-haired partner and then proclaimed to the crowd, "I'll be taking a break for a while! Kira will be in charge."

"Madoka, don't go!" some men cried morosely.

However, Madoka just winked. "Now, now. I have to talk to my sister!"

She ushered Mai to a small door beside the counter, and they headed to a storeroom at the back of the kitchen, which was behind the shelves of boxed mochis. Boxed mochis of any kind were piled from floor to ceiling in the ambry, and their smell invigorated Mai's stomach. Madoka, knowing how Mai's stomach works, gave her a box of taro mochis to devour while they sat and conversed on crates. In exchange, Mai handed her two-tiered lacquered box of home-made makizushi from her knapsack.

"You're amazing, Madoka-nee! You've attracted quite a lot of people!" Mai commented after biting a piece of her mochi and offered some to Madoka, who refused politely.

"Yes, indeed," Madoka said uneasily and then shifted in her seat before leaning and whispering to Mai, "Look, Mai. Actually, I'm not Madoka; I'm Ayako."

Mai almost choked on her mochi.

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"Wha―Huh?" Mai gawked at the woman before her.

What the woman before Mai confessed was so impossible to comprehend as the latter gazed at everything that was Madoka━her reddish-brown hair, her brown eyes, and her pouty lips. Having a very good memory, Mai could recall Ayako's slender face, scarlet hair, and seldom snobby voice very well, so for her second oldest sister to be like Madoka...

"Yes, I know it's shocking, right?" Madoka―or rather Ayako―smiled slightly. "Well...you see...the person who teaches me medicine and trains me as a miko? She's actually a good witch, and well...I ventured upon a spell and got excited. I'd visited Madoka last month and told her about it. Then, well...she brought up how she's tired of the mochi shop, and I talked to her about how dull my life was becoming━besides the magic part. Madoka was intrigued about magic for so long too, so, you see, we arranged everything and ourselves and well...placed each other in disguise."

"S-so...Madoka-nee is in Upper Straightening Valley...rather than y-you?" Mai sat in bewilderment.

Ayako, in Madoka's body, nodded and said, "Madoka and I were going to visit you! But then, you see out there; this place is so busy! It's three times rowdier today, and it's been going on ever since early morning too! Madoka left me with regards for you, though. I've heard she's having fun through her letters."

"She sent me one too..." Mai blinked and remembered that she had actually noticed the inconsistency of their handwriting but thought nothing beyond it.

When their parents died, Mai and her two sisters had been fending by themselves. Since neither of her older sisters wanted to take over the tea shop, Mai volunteered (among the three of them, she was the one that's talented in tea-making, anyway), and the three of them separated paths. From then on, they had not personally encountered one another, so Mai had finally decided days ago that she would visit Madoka and Ayako consecutively when they told her, at last, where they had settled for the meantime.

But the tidings that awaited her was very perplexing.

"H-has no one noticed it? I mean...what if you liked someone from those guys out there?"

With a wave of her well-manicured hand, Ayako shrugged and beamed. "Well, if I ever fancied someone, I'll show my real face to him. And if he likes me for who I am, then everything's settled."

Mai gazed at her for a while and then smiled in return. "I think that's a good idea, somehow..."

_But in my case, if I'd be in disguise...I think the guy would rather have my mask than my raw exterior..._The youngest was as self-depreciating as usual.

"Isn't it? Anyway, enough about me." Ayako smiled Madoka's smile. "What about you? How are you faring in the tea shop? Aren't you bored?"

Mai shrugged and was about to say that she's okay until she involuntarily bit her lip. She hated lying to her sisters, so she suspired and blurted to Ayako, "Actually...I've...been feeling very dull too."

Ayako looked at her sympathetically and squeezed her hands. "I know how it feels, Mai. And I think the feeling of dullness is heavier on you. I mean, you've been making teas since I-don't-know-when, and the task has been taking up the entirety of your life when mother and father died. I'm not going to suggest you'll put up something like what Madoka and I did, but I think you should do something you'd want to do rather than do something you _**must**_ do."

Mai nodded and sighed. "I know, Ayako-nee...but it's just...I'm confused too. I don't know what I want to do. I'm at the end of my wits―if I even have such―in finding the thing I'd love to do forever. And so far my search is just...utterly pointless."

Ayako squeezed her hand in assurance again. "You'll find one soon, Mai. I'm sure you will! Mind me, your tea-making is fabulous, and you know what they say about entrancing a man's stomach."

Mai didn't know how the subject veered to love hunting, yet she just went along and frowned. "That's about food."

"Well, tea goes through the stomach too."

Mai chuckled. "Alright, alright. I wish that too, Ayako-nee."

The two changed the topic and started to chat about anything. From a friend who married a lord to a neighbor who gave birth recently, their conversation consisted various information exchange. They spoke of nonsensical things just like in the old days, and Mai had gradually felt lighter than ever at Ayako's chirping.

So, when a scrawny man slipped his head in the storage room to tell Ayako that she should go back to the counter, Mai was feeling so enlivened already like her usual cheerful self.

Ayako bid her with cheek-kissing goodbyes and another boxed mochi before returning with her to the counter and seeing her off. Mai waved to Ayako but observed that Ayako had become preoccupied then with the customers.

Smiling, Mai squeezed out of the rowdy men and into the wonderful night.

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><p><strong>XDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~<strong>

When Mai got out of SPR, the crowd in Market Nonagon had already increased a hundred times. The sun had already set, and Mai would have appreciated the night sky if she wasn't squinched by the streaming populace.

A slight headache was starting to form in Mai's temples. The noise of the people who probably went there to see fireworks were getting to her sharply. If she wasn't alone, it would have been alright since she could at least have some distraction. But she was, and being squished by sweating and greasy people wasn't really her definition of fun and distraction in a quite warm night of May. So, avoiding men trying to accost her in the way, Mai paved and fought her way to a deserted alley. When she finally reached her intended destination, she heaved a sigh and began sauntering alone in the dimly lit path.

The sky was quite a clear navy blue with few dark fluffy clouds from here to there. The moon was full, and it shone over the town beautifully. Mai could hear some fireworks starting, but she didn't crane her neck to look.

_The sky's lovely as it is_...

She opened the boxed mochi Ayako gave her and ate it with unwavering delight. It was only when she was halfway the alley that Mai realized she made a wrong turn. Inexplicably, the air had gone chilly, and a prickling feeling had climbed up her spine. She felt as if she was being watched...

Mai shook her head. _I shouldn't think like this!_

In the land of Wō, even just thinking of something probable would make it come true.

Mai threw the empty box of mochi in a nearby bin somewhat hastily. She nipped her lip and trudged on, although unsure about where she's heading. The alley was stretching forever, and the windows of the buildings she passed had not streamed light to her steps for a while then...

_There should be a corner to turn to where there's light and less people_.

Then...

Mai heard it faintly at first, and soon, it was far too obvious not to notice; someone else's footsteps were echoing with hers on the cobblestone path. Half running and half gliding, Mai increased her pace somehow; her quite vertical kimono couldn't really make her afford to run, and she was wearing geta too...

At such instance, Mai bumped her head against something fleshy that materialized out of nowhere (she was sure her path ahead was quite clear before), toppled backwards, and unceremoniously fell on her bottom.

"What the―!" she yelped.

Something also crash landed near her; some glass-shattering sound reverberated to her ears, but she didn't bother to look and know. Her eyes scrunched in pain, she massaged her bottom.

_What the bloody hell was━?_

"Are you alright?" a mellifluous male voice rang out.

Mai involuntarily perked her head up and un-squinted her eyes.

A dashing young man knelt before her. He had pitch black hair and a mix of ash mauve and cerulean for eyes. He was black monochromically in shirt and trousers. However, a blazer made of some dark and shining material draped over his shoulders; its sleeves, unoccupied by his arms, dangled and trailed on his sides.

If it was going to rain men everyday―for it was really like he came from the clouds and fell down suddenly―Mai secretly hoped they would be identical to the lad before her.

After a few minutes of Mai's agape ogling, he raised a lovely eyebrow at her. Mai, thinking it was rude not to reply to his query, stammered while transfixed, "I-I'm alright, t-thank you..."

The lovely eyebrow went down. To her astonishment, he smirked at her. "I wasn't talking to you, actually."

Flummoxed, she gaped at him. "W-what?"

He narrowed his eyes. "I was talking to my mirror, which you have apparently broken."

He pointed on the floor where shards of reflecting glass━its glimmering golden frame a few inches near them━lay before her; it was what she heard shattering a while ago actually.

"Oh..." Becoming cognizant, Mai's jaw went slack so bad that it was going to dig its way underground, but she recovered swiftly.

_T-t-this jerk! Not even apologizing for coming out of nowhere to collide with me! And was instead worried about his mirror!_

Fuming, she glared at him. "I will buy you a new one then."

"There's nothing like my mirror wherever." He frowned, icily staring at her. "My _**precious**_ mirror was custom-made."

Oh, the heartlessness of the man because of his shattered mirror...! Mai was becoming more indignant, but she held herself.

_This is why beauty has its downsides!_ She reproached herself for being a fool and for starting to adore the young man a few seconds ago.

"Fine! I will fix it then!" she snarled brazenly.

She didn't really know how, but maybe thinking of good things would make them come true just as when she was thinking of the opposite.

Yet when she extended her right hand, an unfamiliar transparent one shot up from the floor and grasped her outstretched arm before she could grab a mirror shard. She gasped at the immediate coldness seeping from the pale see-through hand to her body. She could tell then that she was being frostnipped; her skin was suddenly excruciatingly itchy.

Screaming in fright, Mai flailed her right arm off the transparent hand's grip briskly. Luckily, the iron grip broke away, and the transparent hand slipped off from her arm as she moved backwards. Whatever part the transparent appendage was connected to, it was stuck to the ground―unseen.

Mai blanched. Ah...She forgot indeed. There was _**that**_ too.

_**Ghosts**_.

She'd seen enough of them to keep her from sleeping at night when she was still a child. She'd tried to pretend she couldn't see any of them ever since, but they were too... _ever-present_ that she had hard times at some point.

But, not one ever touched her until then!

_And with the intention to harm me! _She stared, horrified, at the...thing.

Mai gulped nervously and grew paler within seconds as, gradually, the rest of the ghost started to emerge from the ground. A hollow-faced old man appeared and grinned at her so creepily and wickedly that she would have screamed again if another hand―a fleshy and un-transparent one―did not snatch her arm and usher her behind a barrier, which was the overweening young man's body. The latter whirled his head to her and squeezed her arm comfortingly.

"It'll be alright," he assured.

Mai was nonplussed thereupon because, amazingly, 'alright' she felt indeed. She reddened unusually at the feel of the warm hand holding her and at the presence of the seemingly broad back in front of her. She shook her head abruptly though. _I won't be tricked! Never in my life will I be bewitched again by this young man!_

"So they've chased me here too," her 'shield' murmured to no one in particular.

_What? _Mai nictated.

It was then that she noticed that other ghosts had started to emerge everywhere―from the walls that secluded the alley, from the rooftops of the near buildings, and from the floors near them. Mai was going to faint if the apparitions kept up, and involuntarily, she clung to the blazer of her shield for reassurance. Without any reaction to her clinging, the young man waved a hand over the mirror shards. Then, each broken piece shone and emitted blinding rays of different colored lights.

Mai's breath was caught, at that moment, in between amazement, fear, and bewilderment at the demonstration. The display was more beautiful than any firework she'd ever seen.

"Begone," the young man bellowed, and slowly and swiftly, the ghosts were disintegrating. Mouth hung agape once again, Mai ogled at the evanescing spirits.

_H-he's exorcising them?_

He glanced at her and commanded, "Cling tightly to my shirt. I'm going to raise a wind."

"A wha―?" she said absentmindedly.

He mumbled incomprehensible words then―so fast that Mai thought he was tongue-twisting. Before long, Mai felt her geta push the soles of her feet upwards, and she gazed down at her toes in perplexity. A very extraordinary scene was occurring at that instant, and it was not only her who experienced it, actually; a cyclone had started below the young man and Mai's feet, and they rose up from the ground.

Snapping to her senses, Mai whipped to the stranger beside her.

"Why are you involving me? You said they were chasing you, you jerk!" she yipped in midair.

Mai somehow thought that if the man was a wizard, he could have just made her invisible to the ghosts and ran away by himself. She needed to come home early that night after all; she must wake up early the next day to make the teas.

And she wanted to go home safely.

"Because you must compensate for breaking my mirror," he responded, still his back to her.

Mai was not really afraid of heights, but her feelings could vary with great distance. They weren't falling, however, so Mai decided to trust the guy...one bit.

She turned him around. "I told you I'll fix it!"

The man glimpsed at the cyclone below them. It was the one glimmering with lights then; the ghosts trying to fly to them were hit by its random flashing and shimmering before they vanished into mists.

"It's irreparable when broken. That's why it's precious," he answered and quipped finally.

Next, he held her arms and brought her in front of him, and she was quite unprepared. She was the one with her back to the young man then. Subsequently, he whispered, from behind, to her left ear, "We have to run in the sky."

"Wah―you━!" Mai spluttered.

He flicked a finger on the sides of her kimono, and her legs poked out through the magically made slits as she was led into a skitter across the night sky. Mai's astounded voice promptly reverberated in the atmosphere as she was guided on top of a pointed roof to another roof and to more roofs. Mai whirled her head back at the cyclone, but the lad told her not to and made her look just straight ahead.

Screw distance; it was the uncertainty that she would remain in midair which frightened her. No matter how loud and shrill her cries of fright though, no one from the bustling crowd came to look at her tantrum in the sky.

"Wah―aaaaarrrrrrrrrggggggggggh! Youuuu vainnnnnnn freeeeeeeeeeaaaaaakkkkkk!" she shrieked as they leapt magnanimously; her legs were flinging fecklessly in air space for a moment before landing to a very far thatched rooftop.

Mai was being led to the whole ordeal, but it wasn't like she had another option besides imminent death. At least, she'd thought that if not for the hands which gripped her own, she would have been falling like a star to its demise.

"Just one jump," the young man instructed, and one jump they did.

However, after the jump, the comforting hands released Mai way above a gray tiled rooftop. She was then left flapping helplessly―like a young bird trying to fly―for seemingly infinite seconds and was induced to screeching.

Afraid to look at where she would be crash landing (it was going to be a rough and hard roof), she shut her eyes and crossed her arms to protect her face. Before long, her body weighed her down, and seemingly everything dragged her below.

Another long shriek resonated.

...

And then it all ended with a whimper.

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><p><strong>XDXDXDXDXD~nya~<strong>

Mai was roused because of some jabbings on her sides. Instinctively evading the jabber, she groaned and rolled to her side. Another poke came, and she swathed the poker's hand grumpily. When the prods still came, she giggled, "Stop it. It tickles!"

She heard a sigh and then...

"You're finally awake, mirror-breaking idiot."

Her eyelids flew open, and she bolted upright hastily.

"W-who's━?" she inquired sleepily, very disoriented yet alarmed.

There came a sneer. "You're quite forgetful. To think it's only for a few hours."

Mai rubbed her eyes and blinked numerous times. Everything that happened came rushing back to her as she faced a sable-haired young man.

"Y-you!" she squeaked, inspected herself, and then goggled at him. "You're real! Wha―how did I━?"

Checking for wounds and bruises, she patted her body with her hands but found none. She was mystified, thus, at what she discovered.

_Didn't I smack on the roof? And-and...fainted? _She was confused, but...

She felt refreshed, somehow, as though she just had a decent and satisfying slumber last night. She gazed at the young man in disbelief.

"I...fell...smacked on the roof...fainted and slept?" she queried uncertainly and then added with a second look at herself, "A-and was unscathed?"

The young man just shrugged. "You went through the roof and, yes, fainted then slept. For two and a half hours. Snoring too, I might add."

Mai would have glared at his remark, but then she was distracted. The young man was sitting on an all-too-familiar floral-upholstered spring green couch in a very kingly and I'm-used-to-this-place pose. It was on that occasion, when she swiveled her head sideways, that she became aware of actually nestling on her tea shop's mint green carpeted floor and that she was using her knapsack as a pillow...

"How did you―?"

The image of the ghosts, the illuminating mirror shards, the cyclone, and the scurrying across the night sky flitted back to Mai's mind. Then it all clicked into her head; the earlier events linked together to form a train of thoughts and a general conclusion. In shock, she wondered aloud, "You exorcised those ghosts, but you're a wi―?"

"_**Enchanter**_ is the correct title," the lad interrupted as-a-matter-of-factly.

"What?" Mai's eyes expanded.

He smirked airily and drawled, "I'm an Enchanter: an alchemist, wizard, and exorcist."

_Enchanter?_

Although the magical world wasn't that new to her, Mai was insofar uninvolved with the witchdom around her―enough for her to be quite uncaring of whatever terms the ones with such profession used.

So she gawked at him. "You can't be serious."

He soughed, as though he'd encountered the same reaction a million times. "Do I look like I jest?"

Mai just shrugged.

He looked away and added, more to himself, "Although, it's just expected. I had asked _**that guy**_ to blacken my name, after all."

Mai nictated. _That guy? He has an associate?_

Mumbling to herself, Mai squinted her eyes and pursed her lips. "Nevertheless, you're that Shibuya who's said to be frolicking and munching on━"

She stopped and paled when she recalled that the young man in front of her was the _**Shibuya-freak-who-eats-girl's-hearts**_ and that he's extremely at an arm's length of her―

As fast as a mongoose (or maybe faster), Mai scrambled to her feet, got a broomstick from a corner, and waved it in front of the so-called _**enchanter **_while holding her knapsack to her chest like a breastplate.

"Y-you! Don't you dare come near me!"

Her defense was truly incomparable to and easily conquerable by his magical powers, but at least she got something.

_What else can I do? What should I use?_

Becoming jittery, she bit her lip.

'Enchanter' Shibuya just arched his eyebrow though. "I have no such intention."

Mai blinked and then gritted out accusingly, "_**You eat hearts**__!_"

Amused, he lifted a corner of his mouth, and Mai cursed herself for the heart-leaping produced by the motion.

_Dang the━!_

"Perhaps, indeed," he intercepted her vehement thought.

"T-then, get out," Mai shooed him feebly with the wooden end of her broomstick.

"No," he said firmly.

Not frightened, she stared at him but was utterly vexed. Recovering, she pointed out, "There are more beautiful girls who have more delectable hearts out there, you vain jerk!"

"That doesn't matter," the young man loured and suspired again, "but since your idiocy could not understand, I shall tell you instead: you broke my mirror, and―hopefully, your little head can remember now―I am here to get the compensation for it."

"W-what compensation?" Mai swallowed hard.

Just the thought of being made into a slug and then whip-lashed by the magical lad―

Enchanter Shibuya broke into an insolent smile and voiced coolly, "I'll have your most expensive tea. _**Served by you. Now**_."

**XDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~**

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><p><strong>AN: Muahahahhaha! How was this chap? You may share your thoughts ^^**

**Who's Calcifer, 'Michael', and Witch of the Waste? You'll find out in the next chap! See y'all! XD**


	2. In Which Mai is Damned

**A/N: This story has become sort of parody-ish. LOL. But then, we all need a good laugh, right? ^^**

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><p><strong>Review<strong>

"W-what compensation?" Mai swallowed hard.

Just the thought of being made into a slug and then whip-lashed by the magical lad―

Enchanter Shibuya broke into an insolent smile and voiced coolly, "I'll have your most expensive tea. _**Served by you. Now**_."

**End of Review**

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><p><strong>XDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~<strong>

**II. In which Mai is damned .II**

**XDXDXDXD~nya~**

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><p>"Wha―?"<p>

Mai couldn't believe the audacity of the man before her, but she soon nipped her lip. After all, the mirror she broke, accidentally or not, looked really made of gold. In addition, just the air of the young man before her exuded royalty. And if there's one thing Mai disliked the most, it would be the feeling of indebtedness to a rather condescending person.

So, just to end everything with the 'enchanter' in front of her and so that she wouldn't turn into a slug, Mai lodged down her broomstick, clipped up her fringe, and assented, "F-fine. But after having tea, please do leave. I can't have curses thrown at me because a wi―"

"Enchanter," he corrected once more.

"Enchanter whatever," she repeated, exhausted. "I can't have a cursed tea shop, you know? Whoever those ghosts were, they're following you and only you; is that clear?"

She pointed at him with the spout of a sky blue kettle.

He just shrugged. "Only I am begrudged by the Maou of the Waste, so I doubt she will be after you. You can fare by yourself anyway."

She scowled. "She should better be following you, or your mirror won't be the only thing I'll break but also your handsome face!"

Enchanter Shibuya raised his eyebrow. "You think I'm handsome?"

"So what if I do?" she shot. "Now I know how you bewitched a lot of beautiful women and ate their hearts!"

He shrugged and then lifted a corner of his mouth afresh. "You have a very good perception of beauty, then."

She was open-mouthed in disbelief. _T-the arrogance of this jerk!_

"You―! You're Naru from now on!" she proclaimed.

He stared at her. "What did you say?"

"What, are you deaf?" Mai huffed, but Enchanter Shibuya was just silently eyeing her as though in disbelief too.

"W-what?" Mai crossed her arms over her chest in defensive stance. "Don't look at me like a pervert!"

He shrugged again and arched an eyebrow. "You think so?"

She glowered. "You―"

He made a small smile of fascination, and Mai was dazzled for a bit. She immediately faced her back to him and muttered to herself, "Sly jerk!"

His smile made her heart race and arrive at the finish line in seconds.

_Unfair...Beautiful people are so manipulative!_

She didn't even once think that she's a part of her so-called beautiful people.

* * *

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Mai woke up at the sound of the grandfather clock behind her. She was slumbering on her couch, and she couldn't even remember flopping on it...

Alarmed, she sat upright.

"Wha―how―where?" She scanned her tea shop and found no one in sight.

Was it all a dream after all?

She couldn't tell. There were no teapot and teacups on the table before the couch. There was no 'enchanter' sitting obnoxiously on the other couch across where she had lain. Lastly, there were no slits on the sides of her kimono...

Frowning, Mai rubbed her eyes. _What a strange dream..._

Miraculously, she didn't dream about her customers for the day at all. Somehow, it deemed to be an exciting day then. Her dreams usually spoiled the fun since it would already give her the answer to her customers' needs without the chance of investigation, exploration, and discovery.

_I guess, the 'enchanter' can be a good luck charm in dreams huh...But...could the real Wizard Shibuya really look like the one in my dream? Or is it just my clandestine girlish fantasy..._

Mai blushed and slapped her cheeks. "Ow!"

She scrunched her eyes in pain. _Erase, erase! What am I thinking?_

She gazed at the clock and discovered that it was already 2 o' clock...She whipped her head to the window. _It's still dark...Twilight?_

She'd never roused so early. Also, she didn't feel drowsy any longer, as though the effects of weeks of bad sleep just vanished.

_That enchanter must have been an arrogant guardian angel of good sleep..._

Mai sighed and stood up, slightly unbalanced at first, but she leaned on the couch's arm rest to steady herself. Just then, the chime of her shop's door tinkled, and she flinched. Perplexed, she rubbernecked at the ajar turquoise-painted door. In the doorway was a tall young woman in her 20s. A white wide-brimmed hat with an ivory bow trimming sat on her shoulder-length wavy light ginger-hued locks, which accentuated her ecru eyes. She was garbed in a snowy kimono with sunflower and lotus blossoms that were...moving?

Mai rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't dreaming again...

She wasn't. Gulping instinctively, she sensed the foreboding atmosphere...

_Is she━?_ Mai goggled at the woman in dread, but she soon shook her head. _No! Don't even think about it! She's a customer!_

She bit her trembling lip.

_But..._

Glimpsing apprehensively at her clock once more, she gawked at the woman.

_A customer this early?_

Thinking it barbaric to not greet a possible (she hoped) customer, Mai bolted from her seat and neared the stranger cannily. "Ano...the shop's still close, so if you can just go back la―"

The woman's pale heart-shaped face turned to her.

"Who are you?" the woman asked, taking Mai aback.

Muddled at the reverse of roles, Mai uttered, "Um...I'm―"

"Not your name, dear." The woman's tone was sickly sweet and eerie. "What's your relation to Wizard Shibuya?"

Mai gaped at her. _She━! The Maou? Holy━!_

It wasn't a dream after all.

"Tha-that's━" Looking for her broomstick, Mai swished her head everywhere. If the enchanter was rather unmindful of her temper, the Maou appeared the opposite. It scared her to observe the difference.

_Why am I getting involved?_

"No response huh..." the Maou said and scrutinized the tea shop before covering her nose. "It stinks here."

Inevitably and immediately fuming, Mai yelled, "It doesn't!"

The Maou nictated at the tea-maker before narrowing her eyes and smiling triumphantly. "You are short-tempered, I see."

Mai realized her mistake and stammered, "I mean, I━"

The Maou smoothly glided towards her, now face-to-face, and Mai swore that she was going to get cross-eyed with how near the woman's face was.

"An incapable brat like you can never grow into a beautiful lady like me," the Maou hissed.

Insulted and defensive, Mai shot vehemently, "Oh really? Well, I don't care because my sisters are more beautiful than you, old hag!"

The Maou glared, sneered, and snapped her fingers in front of Mai's face. "I see...Then, you shall remain as immature as you are."

"Wha━You━!"

Within seconds again, the Maou had glided away from her and to the door. With a last look, the Maou jeered at Mai, "You'll meet your demise if you divulge your hex to anyone. On another note, tell Shibuya-kun that Ubusuna sends her regards, and I will make a feast of his heart soon~~"

Mai stared at her wake. _Heart? What's with sorcerers and hearts? Do they need some heart replacement or something?_

The tea shop's door slammed shut, and Mai was left utterly speechless. It was as though a swift small yet strong breeze passed by and went. Addled, Mai ran her hands through her hair.

_And, w-what hex?_

"What is she━?" Mai squeaked and halted. She placed her hands to her throat. _My voice! How did it become so soft and squea━_

Mai gasped at her hands, arms, and feet. Her hair had come loose from the plait and crimson rubber grip...and became short!

_My body━!_

Mai darted to the mirror beside the grandfather clock and goggled at her reflection in horror. Her hair was disheveled, and her kimono threatened to fall off of her arms (she hurriedly fixed it tighter to her body). Her obi had fallen, and the hem of her kimono had bunched up on the floor.

_This can't be!_

Mai placed her hands on her cheeks and screeched.

* * *

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_How can this occur?_

Mai paced her bedroom problematically. It was 12 noon, and she didn't have a plan to open the tea shop for the day.

With her appearance, who would believe her? Who would buy her goods? She would probably be the talk of the town if anybody discovered! And it would be as though she was in a freak show, and she would be scorned at and...

She stomped, kicked, and punched in the air in frustration. "That old hag! Curse her that she won't live long with her beauty!"

Hearing her mouse-like voice rankled her more, so she yelled, making the birds that perched on the windowsill bolt away.

Truthfully, she was more worried about her sisters. What if the others would treat them horribly? What if Ayako (as Madoka) would lose her job because people would think her sister might pass on the curse to her?

"Grrrrrrrrrrrr!"

She was very angry indeed. Who would take her now? Who would look past her appearance and save her from the hellfire she was thrown into?

"Aaaaaaaaahhh!" she shrieked.

_Think. Think. Think!_

She swore under her breath. Why were magical people involving and tormenting her with their conflicts? Why did they have to use a human as a show of their power?

Why, why, why?

Mai shook her head. _No! Stop lashing and cursing!_

She glared at her reflection from her vanity table's mirror. Then, she suspired. _It's not like I look bad...but..._

Everything just did not feel right. Mai somehow realized how much she appreciated her real-time look at that instance.

_You'll never feel more rueful than when you lost something you should have been very thankful of..._

Mai suspired once more. _How can I break this curse━?_

She gasped.

_Madoka!_

She remembered then what Ayako (in Madoka's guise) had told her.

_Madoka is being taught by a __**good **__witch!_

Elated of the hope she found she still possessed, Mai stared at her teak wood wardrobe and soon climbed on her bed and then her bedside table and then her dresser. At the top of her dresser and now taller than her wardrobe, she hugged a large purple box on the latter's surface. Slowly, she slid it off from where it had lain for many years (somehow, her original strength was still there), and (staggering and nearly toppling) she dropped it brusquely on the floor with a loud thud. After hopping down at the same places she ascended upon, she took the lid and scavenged for a week's worth of kimono, Western dresses, and undergarments. She then chucked her find in the fleshy and succulent knapsack, which she found under her bed.

Subsequently opening the drawer of her bedside table, she grabbed her sisters' letters and skimmed the addresses. Before the magical switch, Ayako had written to Mai and given her the address...

"Upper Straightening Valley..." Mai nictated at the envelope.

Upper Straightening Valley was three hills behind Market Nippon's hills, and on the hills of Market Nippon was...

Mai cussed under her breath once more. Bloody wizards in the sky! She would have to get past Enchanter Shibuya's castle, which was an inevitable barricade to her plan. She face-palmed.

Like the Maou, the arrogant enchanter might put a hex on her once he would _**magically**_ know her meeting with the so-called 'Ubusuna.' Mai plopped face first on her bed in defeat. Why was luck evading her seemingly purposively?

Why, why, why?

She perked her head up, blew on her fringe, and punched and kicked the mattress. _Dang, dang, dang, dang, dang!_

"Aaaaaaaarrrgggghhh!" She rolled on her bed from left to right; she was venting in the most harmless fashion she could think of.

When she got really dizzy and finally halted rolling and resolved to stare at her room's lime-colored ceiling, Mai's stomach churned. Involuntarily, something dripped down her cheeks, and she blinked and wiped the tears that suddenly started pouring down her eyes.

Behind the obvious frustration and anger at her misfortune, Mai was infinitely lonely and afraid. She'd never felt very isolated from the world than at that very moment. Her parents dead and her sisters living their heart's desires, Mai was the only one who continued to stray.

What was she supposed to do now? What should she do now?

Every action she could think of would just lead to worse situations. _Perhaps, I'll stay here and lock myself...I'll write a letter to Madoka..._

But what if her letter would be intercepted? What if the Maou's minions had continued to lurk around outside the house and tea shop?

She sniffed morosely. _There's no choice...I'd have to stay here, imprison myself, and starve myself if I must...at most, avoid involvement with magical people, and at least approach a stalemate..._

She soughed. Thinking was tormenting her. What if Ayako would visit her? She would have to explain...and she would have to be tongue-tied because of it...

_Perhaps, I still should try to write a letter explaining my situation...and then go to Ayako and tell her I'm a messenger and that there's a letter she had to send to Madoka..._

Groggily, Mai bolted out of her bed and proceeded to her desk, which was just across. Sliding a drawer open, she fumbled out a fresh set of rice paper, ink bottle, and swan feather quill. Snuffling, she clambered up the chair and dipped the quill's tip in the opened ink bottle.

She then began to write...

_Madoka-nee-san, this might sound weird, but in the wee hours of the morning of May XXXI, the Maou had cast a curs━_

Before Mai could even add the last letter, the paper she'd scrawled on instantaneously lit up in flames. Yawping, Mai leapt off the chair she'd been sitting on and gazed in terror at the ashen and blackened fragments of her unfinished letter; as fast as the start of ignition, the small fire ended just as briskly.

As Mai regarded the pieces, she felt her heart clench at the thought of herself being consumed by fire. Would water even save her? Somehow, she knew it wouldn't work at all.

And even before her tongue would slip, Mai was already suffocated by the magical smoke.

Indeed, there was no escape from the curse of the Maou, so Mai snuffled and, to no avail, wept hard for the great tragedy that had befallen her.

* * *

><p><strong>XDXDXDXDXD~nya~<strong>

There was no use being depressed for a very long time, so Mai had listlessly let her body mobilize on its own. Soon enough, she involuntarily guided herself to the kitchen and chucked any food she saw and found on her way in her knapsack. She lifelessly drank tea and ate rice with yesternoon's leftover mackerel, and then she tossed her dishes on the sink with a crash.

She was very unmotivated with her life then. Just staring blankly ahead and heading wherever her feet compelled her, Mai strode out of her house without making sure that everything was locked and secured. Her feet traversed the train's overpass, followed the cobblestone road towards the hills, and trekked the withering grassy pathway of one of Market Nippon's hills.

_Screw everything, Wizard Shibuya, and the Maou_, she thought unhappily.

She was still the same, walking without any anticipated destination. In the end, who could be really at fault? She thought then that her current state was probably retribution for her passivity. She'd never ventured out like her sisters. She was always...

Mai shook her head. _Stop thinking of pessimistic things!_

Finally creeping out of her reverie, it was only then that Mai became cognizant of where her feet had taken her; she was on the peak of a hill, and one more step and she would drop...Mai immediately stepped back and tripped backwards with a cheep.

Moaning in pain, she blinked at the thing that stumbled her. It was a besom...

_My broomstick!_

She gasped as she confirmed it. Her broomstick was the most peculiar thing she'd ever bought. She had picked it up from a nearby shop and was told that it could clean anything and leave anything spotless. So far, the claim had not been disproved. What was very strange, though, was that wire-rimmed oval spectacles clumped the twigs together. With frequent use, the glasses didn't come loose also. Somehow, she'd thought of it as a blessing from a magician who probably realized he didn't need to make a guaranteed cleaning instrument when he could have just snapped his fingers and presto━everything's clean.

"You were probably abandoned before I bought you, weren't you?" Mai questioned and smiled sympathetically. She could understand why it had thaumaturgically stalked her..."Well, worry no more! I would really need some company, even if you can't talk..."

Now, what was she doing talking to a broomstick? And making it her traveling companion?

_Ahhh, who cares? _

She sighed. "I wish you can fly. Then, you can take me to a place where I'll feel that I truly belong..."

It was absolutely ridiculous to even consider depending on a broomstick to lead her to her fortune.

_What am I doing?_ She sighed again and started to stand.

But suddenly the broomstick erected on its own and flew, and consequently Mai fell on her bottom in shock again. The...thing hurtled behind her and slid its slender pole in the area between her knapsack and back. Then, she was levitating and dangling by the straps of her bag, which she'd slung over her shoulders. Yelping in fright and swinging her legs in surprise, she cried, "Wha━! Let me down! Let me down!"

The broomstick didn't listen to her, and she wondered if it even could...

_Don't worry! I won't let you go!_ a voice was heard inside her head, and she nictated.

"Wa-was that you?" Mai gasped, and the broomstick bobbed her and consequently made her shriek in fright.

_Don't worry! I'll take you to a safe place!_

It was a male's voice...a teenage-sounding one..._Could he be...cursed too?_

There was no reply, and Mai thought that maybe it could only invade her mind but not read her thoughts.

She was going to change her mind about finding a place where she would belong...But she was intrigued if the broomstick could really do that, and since it flew her very far above the hill already, she decided to extend her arms upwards and grasped the broomstick's pole.

"Fine! Lead me then!" she conceded bravely.

The broomstick, then, dived towards the ravine she'd almost fallen into. Screaming and regretting her agreement, she wagged her legs hysterically. "Wha━what are you doing? We're going to crash, you idiot!"

The bottom of the ravine was very dark...or was that black water?

When they'd zoomed closer, Mai noticed that it wasn't black water at all; it was an enormous moving black blob with...tentacles?

Mai screamed and swung her legs away from the extending, jiggling, and wiggling jelly-flexible things. But, to no avail, one of the appendages coiled around her left shin and pulled her down.

Mai shrieked...

And whimpered again.

* * *

><p><strong>XDXDXDXDXD~nya~<strong>

When Mai seemingly woke up, everything was white.

_Hea...ven?_

In the whiteness, four lined up and wide-enough-to-go-through holes showed a view of a slightly cloudy tangerine sky.

_Heaven...huh..._

She stretched her arms upwards and palms forward. _How peaceful..._

"You're awake!" a chirpy voice sounded, and Mai heard the crackling of fire.

Bewildered, Mai sat upright and swiveled around, but there was nobody else in there. If it was really heaven, it was a very sumptuous place she'd been placed in. The floor was covered with extremely polished white tiles. On one side, a semi-cylindrical block of marble was stuck to the bleached wall, and on top of it was a glowing and sizzling fire with seemingly fresh logs before the grate. A larger hole was above the fireplace, and Mai concluded that the holes were actually protruding flues. On the right side of the hearth were neatly stacked and chopped logs, and on the further right was a staircase (also bleached). Meanwhile, on the left side was an alabaster sink with same-colored cabinets above and below it. On the further left of the fireplace was a pantry, as fair as the other things in the room (except the fire, grate, and wood, of course), that stretched longer than what Mai could see and filled with excessive food supply (she couldn't help thinking if food was needed in heaven or if it was just for show of bounty). It had a door made of teardrop crystal bead curtains, a welcoming sight. On the farthest left of the fireplace was a cupboard, as achromatic as everything else, filled with costly-looking china in pulchritudinous artistic designs.

Across the fireplace was a blanched door, and a staircase downwards led to it. The door, unlike others, had other colors attached to it. On the middle of the lintel was a dial divided into four parts; each had a respective color painted on them. The green, red, blue, and black hues were like discolored pie pieces joined together to form a whole. On the bottom of the disk was a black arrow-shaped pointer, which was currently pointing on the green color that was downward. On the left side of the door was the drawing room, consisting of pasty couches, lamps, rugs, tables, and bookshelves. On the right of the door, however, was a broad workbench with five stools slipped under it. Before the table were shelves with labeled jars (like mandrake roots, belladonna, mistletoes, and a lot more Mai didn't know) and a dresser with numerous mini drawers (one was entitled CONSTIPATION and another was VENOM). Lastly, on the white walls on both sides of the door were arched windows with diagonal muntins and pale lacy curtains. In addition, the windows provided a scape of a sea port with flying sea gulls on the bright orangey horizon.

_What a strange heaven...Are those in the drawers...causes of people's deaths? But...constipation?_

Mai wiped sweat on her forehead. _It's warm...In heaven too, huh..._

Just when Mai was about to stand up and open the windows...

"Do you like it?" the same voice she'd heard resonated the room, and Mai winced, blinked, and whizzed her head around in search.

Cautiously, Mai whispered, "W-where are you?"

"In the fireplace!" the voice cheerfully answered.

Mai eyed the hearth and saw no one...

She gasped. The flames had formed into a human head...of a fair baby-faced boy! Blue blazing eyes surveyed her eagerly. Yellowish flames (like blond hair standing up and swaying) danced upwards. Finally, a pearly white conflagrant grin flashed towards her.

Anxious, Mai pointed a quivering finger. "W-w-w-what are you?"

"I move this place," the fire replied; its fiery blue eyes examined her somewhat kindly.

_Hah?_

Remembering that she must be in heaven, Mai bit her lip then inhaled and exhaled to relax her baffled mind...

"Are you...an angel?" Mai finally inquired, and the face of the fire smiled slightly.

"I'm a...demon, actually..."

Mai gaped. _This is hell?_

"Ah! This isn't what you're thinking!" the fire spat sparks; its head figure leapt on the grate. "This is Shibuya-san's castle!"

"WHAT?" Mai exclaimed. Then, absorbing what the fire had gushed and becoming cognizant of the reality she's in, Mai immediately rushed to the door.

_He'll put another hex on me!_

Before she could escape, though, something clicked, and the door swung open. A 20-something man stepped in the room and took a step back in puzzlement when he saw her.

"Who are you?" the tan-haired man questioned incredulously when he saw her at the top of the staircase. He'd tied his hair in a low ponytail, and he'd donned a black kimono over a longer white one and a patchwork cloth (which was draping his waist and hips and hanging by a tied thin strap, each on his left shoulder and upper arm) over the black kimono. Mai could see his white socks and the slippers which he had on.

_A monk? And not a bald one?_

Mai just paled and stood frozen. _Ack! What should I do now that I'm found out?_

_Argh! Confound it!_

Although monks were supposedly kind-hearted...

"John, did you let her in?" the man addressed the fire (Mai didn't notice him pass by her and approach the hearth), and the fire's head shook sideways.

"No," the fire riposted. "She came here by herself."

_John? A foreign name...? _Mai soon recalled hovering the sky through her broomstick... _Ah! Where has it gone to?_

The monk's eyes widened, and then he neared Mai and grasped her right arm. "Are you one of the Maou's lackeys? How did you get in? What do you want?"

The man looked nervous, and he trembled while holding her. But, he showed a very courageous expression.

Mai shook her head quickly and cried, "I'm not! I hate that woman! She c━"

Mai trailed off as she recalled her burnt letter. She bit her lip. _That was close!_

The man still stared suspiciously at her, but he was slowly relaxing. He let her go and wondered aloud, "Impossible...Takoyaki should have pitched you far away. To go against Shibuya's magick! Only the Maou can do that...!"

_Takoyaki? The thing with tentacles?_

Mai stomped her feet. "I'm not related to her, alright? I told you I hate her!"

"Well, little lady," the man loured, "that's what you Maou followers say..."

"I'm not her follower! I hate her!"

Pursing his lips skeptically, he turned to John the fire again. "Why didn't you shoo her, John? You could control the castle absolutely..."

John shrugged his alit shoulders as his igniting arms (Mai only saw it then) hugged a new log. "Takoyaki let her in...so maybe she's not evil. You know evil people scare me, Takigawa-san."

Mai gaped at the fire. She clearly didn't expect to hear words of fear from a demon!

"Shibuya still hadn't returned?" Takigawa sighed.

John bobbed his aflame head. "He'll be back tomorrow, I think."

_Tomorrow!_ The gears of Mai's mind finally made its motion. _I'll stay here for the night then!_

"Accosting again, huh," Takigawa scowled. "He's broken more hearts than I could count."

Mai nictitated. _Accosting? He's going to eat another girl's heart?_

Mai shook her head. _No, no! I don't care! I'll be gone from here before he sees me anyway! Even if he can lift my spell, what if he'll eat my heart after?_

_Ah! No...I'm not his type anyway!_

Mai then tugged Takigawa's shirt. Getting his attention, Mai steepled and slapped her hands together. "Um...I really have no place to stay for the night...so can't I stay here?"

Dusk was nearing, and it was going to be chilly that night. She couldn't imagine herself sleeping anywhere on the hills and the ravine.

_Besides, an enchanter's house is safer...when the enchanter isn't there!_

Takigawa ogled, pondered, and returned, "No, little lady. This place isn't━"

"Just one night! I'll be going to my sister in Upper Straightening Valley, so please let me stay just one night!" Mai clung to the man's kimono unabashedly. Somehow, children could get away from embarrassment with persistence.

"Little lady―"

"Can't I stay here?" Mai flashed her pleading kitten-like eyes, and Takigawa pressed his lips together, as though resisting some urge, then hesitated before soughing.

He pinched her cheek gently and frowned. "As much as I would want you to stay...it's not really in my power to decide, little lady..."

"I can cook and make tea!" Mai persisted eagerly. "It's only for tonight. Please!"

The monk shrugged and smiled. "Um...as much as I want to taste your cooking and tea-making...I have no intention to be persecuted by the Emperor for permitting child labor..."

Mai pouted and said, "I'm not a child!"

She clearly forgot the current transformation she's in; she appeared like her six or seven year old self at the moment, after all.

Bou-san blinked and laughed. Then, he ruffled her hair and made her yelp.

"Hai, hai. Aren't we all like that? Wanting to be older when we're young and wanting to be younger when we're old...Such paradox we all are..."

"It's not like that! I'm really ol―mature!" Mai told him, but he just jounced his head with an understanding smile.

_Nobody would ever believe me, huh?_

Mai continued to pout, but Takigawa just shrugged and cogitated while giving her a candy. "He won't be coming 'til tomorrow, so...Alright, alright. Just tonight, okay?"

Mai nodded swiftly. "Yeah!"

Beaming, Takigawa bobbed his head. "Marvelous! Good, good."

He suspired. Then, he excused himself and went upstairs to change his clothes.

When the monk vanished in sight, John remarked softly, "Your curse refrains you from speaking..."

Mai's eyelids fluttered, and she eyed the fire inquisitively. "You can tell?"

John inclined his head. "I know magick and can do it myself."

It was like a rainbow came after her rain, and a silver lining streaked her path. With shining eyes brimmed with shimmering hope, Mai inched closer to the fireplace and queried, "Can you lift my curse then? Can you return me to my―myself?"

John shrugged again. "There are too many...layers in yours, and it's hard to lift. But..."

"But what?" Mai coaxed, "Whatever you want in return, I'll give it to you!"

John's blazing eyes shone more fervently, and he fizzed. "Would you find out who I am and who I'm searching for then?"

"Isn't your name John?" Mai wondered. "That means you're a foreign...demon? And how do you know you're searching for someone if you don't know who that is?"

"It is. Maybe...I don't know," John breathed out sparks (probably his rendition of a sigh). "But those are the only things I know..."

Mai stared._ A demon amnesiac?_ In the land of Wo, everything had become more ludicrous one after another.

"Who you are and who you're searching for...?" Mai thought pensively and commented, "Those are two things! I just meant one."

"There are many layers to your curse," John pointed out. "But I'm only asking for two conditions."

Mai analyzed and shrugged. Indeed, she was asking too much for less. _As long as he can lift my curse though..._

"Okay. Deal." Mai bobbed her head. "First thing's first, any memory you have about your past or something? At least as a clue? Do demons even have memories?"

"We have, but...I can't remember anything..."John furrowed his ablaze xanthic brows, and Mai soughed.

"I can't tell you anything about my curse either..." Mai muttered, and the both of them suspired gloomily in unison.

"By the way," Mai began, changing topic, "if you're a demon...why are you working for a wizard?"

"I have a contract with him."

"What about?"

"I'm sorry," John said apologetically. "I can't tell you that."

"That's okay..." Mai blinked. _For a demon...he's quite soft-hearted...What in the world..._

"Have you thought of an excuse?" John asked.

"Excuse for what?" She tilted her head.

"For staying here," John responded. "I can't help you if you won't stay. Anyway, Shibuya-san is quite...heartless, you know. So, I'm afraid he might kick you out..."

_Ack! I forgot! If John will lift my curse...I will have to stay longer here! What should I do if I meet that enchanter again? What if he recognized me? What if he abuses me?_

_That arrogant jerk!_

Mai gulped. "W-what can you suggest?"

"You fell over a hill?"

"That's partly true, but..." Mai cogitated. "Ah! What about 'I'm here as a cleaning lady'?"

"Well...this place doesn't really need more cleaning..."

Indeed, the place was sparkling and squeaky clean wherever Mai looked. In defeat, Mai decided, "I'll risk it and say I'm a tea-maker. Surely he'll know I'm under a spell...and that I'm supposed to be sixt―that I'm not myself!"

Mai's throat had gone dry, so she looked around for a kettle. _Tea! I can prove my worth by tea! He was definitely satisfied with my tea last night!_

_Just you wait, you narcissist...I'll pin you down with my tea!_

Mai glared determinedly at the cabinets above the sink.

"What are you looking for?" John questioned. "I can get it for you."

Mai bobbed her head, and she chirped, "A kettle!"

A cabinet opened. Subsequently, a chalky kettle whooshed out of it and sat on a fire by itself. John's conflagrant arms hugged it as though lovingly.

Mai was very inveigled with John's trick. "I haven't put water in it yet!"

"I already got it in." John smiled, and Mai was enthralled. "It's from a spring."

"You're amazing!"

Mai observed the corners, where John's cheeks should be, of the afire head became pink.

"T-thank you..." John said rather coyly. "Is there anything else you'd like to put in it?"

Mai nodded. "Can you put some chamomile blossoms in it? And a little cinnamon?"

John breathed sparks, "Done!"

"Wow! Thank you!" She was indeed being brazen and invasive, but if she could persuade the 'enchanter' to let her stay there for her tea-making expertise, she would have to be more assertive.

"Port Nihon!" she heard John proclaim.

Takigawa got out of his room from the second story in haste and ran down the stairs noisily; his footsteps thudded, and the wooden rung creaked under his weight. He, now wearing an olive shirt, brown trousers, and red sneakers, headed to the workbench and then grabbed a marble handle (which Mai had only noted at that instance) on the floor and pulled to his left. Mai discovered that it was a broom cupboard and that the door of it was actually made of wood.

_An illusion? Wow..._

A wizard's house worked differently indeed.

The monk took a sable pointed and wide-brimmed hat and settled it on his head. The effect was instantaneous; Takigawa's physique was soon replaced by a tall white-haired and long-bearded old man in glittering floor-length silver robes and with half-moon spectacles sitting on the bridge of a slightly crooked nose. The sable hat had also been modified into a lavender nightcap, somehow hinting to the customer in a way.

The transformed monk proceeded to the door, turned a colored knob (similar to the one on the lintel) on the doorknob, and swung the door open. Mai heard a click before Takigawa opened the door, and she noted how the dial on the lintel rolled counterclockwise; the arrow hand was pointing on the blue tint, which was on the bottom then.

An ebony-haired boy, in the same age as the magically transformed Mai, stood before the doorway. The child wore a white shirt tucked in brown shorts, with black suspenders fastened to it. Looking up at the tall bearded man with his own dark pools, the boy declared, "Merlin-san, I need a spell for my sister's asthma."

Takigawa nodded, clambered up the stairs, headed to the workbench, and snatched a piece of paper and quill. He then wrote something on the paper as the boy ascended the stairs and blinked at Mai by the sink. Mai smiled affably, and the boy blushed and looked away briskly.

Takigawa finished his task and gave the paper he'd scribbled on to the boy. Amiably, Takigawa bent and beamed at the boy. "Tell your sister to put this always in her pocket."

The boy nodded and then whispered to the bearded man, "I-is that your daughter, Merlin-san?"

Takigawa glanced at Mai sideways and boffed. "My daughter? No, no! I'm still too young for that!"

The boy was baffled at what he'd said and soon laughed out loud. "You don't look young at all, Merlin-san!"

"You―!" Takigawa was about to tell him off when he remembered the guise he had on. Sighing, he shooed the boy. "Whatever. Off you go now!"

The boy ran down the stairs and out the door. Mai halted snickering (the boy's comment made her do so) and approached the stairs to the door in a daze. Outside the door, after all, wasn't Market Nippon, where Shibuya's castle should have been. Ignoring Takigawa's dissent, Mai descended the stairs and got out of the door excitedly. The place she saw from the windows matched the scenery at that instance. It was a port town. Before her was the great expanse of sea.

_I've never been to the sea before!_

She smelled the salty breeze and fish and seaweed hanging around her. Stalls of seafood, fruit, and vegetable vendors lined the sidewalk beside the red house she came out from; the vendors were already preparing to leave though. On the other hand, the boats on the port swayed with the waves.

_Amazing! I'm in someplace else! Wow!_

She felt so free and blissful. It was as though the shackles of unknown left her. Somehow, she didn't mind about the curse anymore. If only when she's cursed could she feel freedom, then she wouldn't mind being stuck as a child forever.

_Well...I can still grow, I guess...?_

"Little lady, I'm closing the shop, so come inside or you'll get locked out!" Takigawa called.

"Shibuya-san's coming!" John shouted, and Mai hurried inside immediately before Takigawa could slam the door shut. However, Mai shirked the knowledge about the enchanter's arrival as she was wrapped up with childish ebullience.

"This is a magical house, right? This door can lead you anywhere, right?" Gaily, Mai skipped the stairs and jumped cheerfully. "Amazing!"

"Not anywhere." Takigawa shook his head and took his nightcap off; without a beat, the nightcap became a pointy hat once more, and Takigawa returned to his original appearance. "It only leads to four places Shibuya designated."

"What are the other three?" Mai said quizzically.

"Well..."

"He's here!" John declared again.

Mai blinked. "Who's―?"

There was a click, and Mai saw the disk on the lintel turn counterclockwise again. The black tint was on the bottom then.

_Ack! __**He's **__here! I forgot! What should I say? _Mai must have become whiter than the walls of that room.

The door opened, and the same-dressed man, who made her skitter across the sky last night, entered. Fog covered outside the door where the black hue led, and Mai couldn't make out anything before the lad closed the entrance. Soon enough, the enchanter ascended the stairs without looking at anyone and proceeded to the workbench to lodge down, from his silver-and-black blazer's inner pocket, a golden-framed mirror...

"Ah!" Mai exclaimed, pointing at the very _**whole**_ mirror...

It was then that she discovered the deceit.

_He tricked me! He could mend it after all! _It dawned on Mai, and she was miffed. _He tricked me just to get free (supposedly expensive) tea!_

The enchanter whizzed his head, blinked at her, and spun to Takigawa. "There's a customer at this time?"

The monk scratched his head. "Well, actually...she's not..."

The enchanter frowned. "I believe I've made it clear that―"

"She made tea!" John informed him, and Mai just blankly nodded.

The kettle rose from the fire by itself, and a teacup zoomed out of the china cupboard. John, with his fervent arms, poured the young man a cupful of tea.

_Tea! Right! I must convince him to let me stay here! Control your anger, Mai! _The little girl pressed her lips together and tried to smile at the enchanter.

Taking his filled teacup from John (it didn't seem to burn him when he touched the fire), the enchanter queried, "Who are you?"

"I'm your cleaning lady from now on!" Mai riposted and added, "And cook and tea-maker!"

Again, she forgot she was currently barely a lady.

A lovely eyebrow rose. "I believe my house doesn't need such."

_And yet you're drinking the tea I made..._Mai breathed in and out to control her anger. Frowning, Mai thought of something else quickly.

_Dang! Why is this place so clean?_

_Why━?_

A light bulb turning on, she quipped, "I'm here to make a mess of it then!"

Shibuya smirked. "Only my relatives can botch up my life."

Mai nictated and then lied, "Well, I'm a relative!"

Enchanter Shibuya was amused. "And in what way are we related?"

For the first time, Mai smirked wickedly in sweet revenge.

"I'm your child!" she declared.

And the enchanter choked on his tea.

**XDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~**

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><p><strong>AN: Yep, yep. Naru's going to be a lolicon...**

**I JEST! Heehee hahee Ü This is where the big difference between Howl's Moving Castle and this story starts! ^^ How will Mai mess up his life? How will she wrap Naru around her finger? Why is Naru courting girls?**

**To be honest, I don't have much confidence in writing stories of fantasy genre, but it**'**s actually the genre that enthused me to write stories. Although I may fail despicably and my works aren't diamonds, I'm very grateful to those who have read up to this chapter! ^^ It really means a lot! T.T :) And I know it's weird that the GH characters' roles in this AU seem mismatched, but, trust me, it'll all make sense soon (but I can't say how soon!). Heha hahe *grins***

**I had some references in this one, like Bou-san's disguise *ahem* Dumbledore *ahem* and his hat *cough* typical witch hat *cough***

**Anyway...was the twist shocking? Intriguing? Heart what-the-hell-ing? You may share your thoughts :)**

**P.S. **I'm actually basing this from the book and movie. ^^ In the movie, Howl's apprentice was a kid named Markl. In the book, it was Michael, a 15 year old boy.

Next chap is entitled "In which Mai has reverted." Any guesses with the title? XD

**P.P.S. **Constipation. People can die of it. Seriously. O.o And if one is so blocked below, hell will regurgitate above...Ack! Sorry =.= I know it's a revolting fact. Eat prunes my dear readers! ^^

**P.P.P.S. **Takoyaki=a ball-shaped dumpling made of batter, some vegetables, and baby octopus! XD


	3. In Which Mai has Reverted

**A/N: **Thank you to everyone who reviewed! Another mystery brewing in this parody-ish fairy[-less!] tale! XD

**Happy Easter!**

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><p><strong>Review<strong>

Enchanter Shibuya was amused. "And in what way are we related?"

For the first time, Mai smirked wickedly in sweet revenge.

"I'm your child!" she declared.

And the enchanter choked on his tea.

**End of Review**

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><p><strong>XDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~<strong>

**III. In which Mai has reverted .III**

**XDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~**

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><p>Kazuya Shibuya had never been rendered sloppily speechless all his life. In addition, he had spilled his tea on an awkward spot of his pants, and he'd <em><strong>never<strong>_ messed up like that.

Until that instance.

And due to a child nonetheless.

Recovering quickly and drying his drenched trousers with a glance, though, he glowered at his grinning 'offspring.' "What are you━?"

"Your child?!" Takigawa intercepted in shock. "By Buddha's beard, how could you, young man?!"

The enchanter shot katanas at the interloper, but the monk shirked him and hurried to the girl with a pat on the head.

The adult was quite sympathetic. "It must have been hard, hasn't it? To be left by yourself by your irresponsible fa━"

"She _**is **__**not **_my child," Shibuya declared irritably, loudly...

And soon regretted it; tears brimmed the child's eyes, and she wailed━possibly defeating all banshees with her cries.

Abruptly, an anxious John suggested to the puzzled enchanter, "Shibuya-san, you must apologize!"

"That's right!" Takigawa agreed. "Can't you even pretend for her, young man? She might have been abandoned, so don't spoil her fun like that!"

The monk shut his mouth instantaneously as he realized what he'd said. The squirt wept louder, and the monk and fire demon rushed to soothe the girl while at the same time persuading the enchanter to atone.

It was very unbelievable that the people he'd thought were loyal to him would be so against him because he made a kid cry. However, he'd indeed noted how...harsh he was at his denial, and his inconsideration had always been a foible...

He clenched his jaw and shunted his head...slightly remorsefully. "Do what you want."

And the young man dematerialized out of thin air.

"That guy━!" The monk gritted his teeth and soughed. Then, he looked softly at the cherub before him while patting her head with care once more. "Don't mind that guy, alright? He's always been an egghead, but it doesn't mean he hates you."

Sniffling, Mai nodded. "O-okay..."

The monk tried to smile, and then there was a cacophonous gush of water from upstairs which caused him to straighten and assure her, "He's usually that loud when starting his bath. Don't worry. I'll go and convince him to let you stay, so don't think too deeply of what he said, alright?" And he added to the fiendish fire, "John, humor her, please."

The girl and demon bobbed, and the former sniffed some more before Takigawa was out of earshot. By then, Mai had her face buried on her cupped hands.

And next...

"Are they gone?" she susurrated to the flame, and John gave her an aflame thumbs-up after a second of flummoxed nictation.

Mai beamed like a Cheshire cat. _They bought it!_

Oh, it was all a mischievous ploy indeed. It took a remembrance of her parents' funeral, however, to summon tears.

With a low snicker, Mai asked John, "Did you see his face? It was priceless, wasn't it?"

John chuckled for the first time, and his conflagrant face flickered. "It was━"

The demon tilted his head with a conflicted expression.

Mai blinked and inquired, "What is it, John?"

He shrugged his fiery shoulders. "I...can't remember your name..."

Mai laughed heartily. "That's because I haven't told you yet!"

"Oh..." John's flames became rosy, and Mai couldn't help but be in high spirits.

"My name's Mai Ta━" She nipped her lip in second thought and continued, "Just Mai."

"Mai? Was it Mai you said?" John knitted his flaming brows.

Mai jounced her head.

_He's really a demon amnesiac!_

Somehow, the oddity of the magickal world was getting through her...in a marvellous way.

_It isn't bad to get used to this, right? At least for a while_, she thought cheerfully.

"It's the first time," John observed, and Mai looked agog at him.

"For what?"

"For Shibuya-san to be pinned down because of a child's hysterics," John explained, looking at her with some admiration. Mai shrugged, but she felt pleased...to be able to affect the enchanter that much.

Curving the corners of her lips upward, she surmised, "I guess he has a soft side for kids for him to cave in like that."

"I don't know..." The fire demon was thoughtful. "I'd never seen him talk to a kid, I suppose...Just maidens..."

Mai just shrugged recurrently. _So, he doesn't mingle that much with others except young women?_

What a playboy the enchanter sounded indeed. Not that it was novel tidings to her however. Still, such particularity was weird━not that she should care much about his preference anyway; she wouldn't be staying at his house for a long time...

Probably...

Mai sighed...and then yawned.

"You must sleep," John proponed. "You might have exerted more than your child's body could take with the journey towards this place."

Mai just nodded and didn't bother to tell John that she didn't want to go inside Shibuya's castle at all; the broomstick━which she couldn't see anywhere now that she'd noticed━just led her there.

"Where *yawn* can I shweep...?" She rubbed her eyes.

"You can sleep on the couch for now," John uttered helpfully.

If Mai wasn't hexed, she would have been in her tea shop's kitchen. She would have begun preparing for her supper and experimenting on her new tea bag mixture. If she wasn't damned, she would have slept on her bed and roused jerkily at the aftermath of a nightmare.

But since she was indeed cursed, Mai lay down on the pasty couch and harkened to the crackling of John's fire until she was lulled and transported face-to-face with an eidolon of a certain wizard who was, for the first time, smiling wholeheartedly and kindly to her.

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><p><strong>XDXDXDXD~nya~<strong>

Mai roused the next day with an ear-splitting crow of a rooster. Still sleepy, she sluggishly rose and rubbed her eyes.

"So noisy..." she murmured. "Whose rooster is that?"

She'd never heard of a neighbor having a rooster before, so how—

"It's Shibuya-san's, from upstairs." There also came a yawn, and Mai flinched and gaped at the fire.

For a moment, Mai forgot the events of yesterday and opened her mouth for a scream...but it got stuck in her throat when the rooster's noise grew louder and louder. Then Mai spotted the boisterous animal descending the stairs with a sleepy muffler-wearing Takigawa, who's scratching his head.

Spotting her, the monk blinked and stopped. It then took a few seconds before his eyes alit in remembrance.

"Oh yeah, oh yeah," he said and cracked a smile. "Good morning, young lady."

Mai bit her lip and just nodded.

Yesterday wasn't a dream, and knowing that made Mai feel a sense of dread never before felt.

Just then, the rooster flew towards her and perched on the top of the sofa's backrest, in front of her, and shouted, "Wake up!"

And Mai, forgetting her dilemma, sent it swooshing to the wall across her by its tail with a, "SHUT UP!"

It had hurt her ears, and the chicken fell motionless on the floor with a crooked tongue out.

Horrified, Mai gasped when she realized what she did to the enchanter's property in her random fury and was about to apologize until Takigawa exclaimed, "Finally! Finally somebody shut it up in an instant!"

"That's amazing, Mai-san!" The head-ish fire, which she recalled was named John, leapt on the grate cheerfully, and Mai was befuddled at their responses.

"That chicken wouldn't shut up no matter how many times we told it to, so we got tired," Takigawa explained.

Mai blinked at them. "Throwing the chicken isn't bad?"

The two nodded in unison. "Quite the contrary."

"Bu-but I killed it! The enchanter will be angry!"

Takigawa snorted. "He won't. Besides, that guy doesn't care if it's gone to Nirvana, and he always goes out before it crows! That sly lad!"

_The enchanter already left?_ Mai was relieved. Soon remembering his smiling face in her slumber, she felt heat creep up to her cheeks.

_Why did I dream of him?!_

Mai shook her head. _No! Don't even think about him!_

"What should we do with it?" she asked to the monk. "Bury it?"

"Leave it lying there. It's just play-acting as usual." Takigawa shrugged.

"It is? It's not dead?"

"Yeah. Magick made it dramatic."

Mai nodded, seeing the revealed tongue of the rooster, and then it convulsed. "It's shaking! Is it sick? It's my fault!"

"Nahhh. I told you; it's just acting. That's one attention-seeking chicken, so ignore it. It'll hop back upstairs when it realized its efforts were unrewarded."

Mai goggled and couldn't help snickering. "What a funny chicken!"

"A troublesome one. I swear if you saw it do somersaults, you'd want to slay and roast it. Unluckily, we can't."

"Why not?"

"Because it's already dead, and it was soaked in embalming fluid for centuries so that eating it would be deadly. It was a specimen, something studied by men of science (which you'll learn about soon enough), and Shibuya brought it to life to shriek hellishly like that. Creepy, right?"

Mai nodded, but her thoughts were elsewhere.

It was a novel wake-up call. It was quite a long time ago that Mai woke up and found somebody (like her sisters) with her. Albeit her then unsolitary life will be temporary, it would be something she might hate to break out of afterwards; being alone wasn't a gladdening situation. Yet she must leave that place someday, for she didn't belong there; she was more suitable with the ordinary life...

A sizzling sound whipped Mai's head to the fireplace, and Takigawa's voice resounded, "Will omelet rice be alright?"

"I'll help you!" The girl bobbed as she stood up and noticed a thin linen blanket fall on her feet.

_Who...? Oh...maybe John...Oh well, I should thank John for it later!_

"Nah. It's my responsibility, young lady," Takigawa refused.

"But—"

"Just go and tidy up your blanket."

Hesitating and biting her lip, Mai bent and grabbed the cover and folded it neatly before lodging it on the sofa.

"Sit before the workbench!" Takigawa gestured to the table near the dresser and shelves of weird stuff, and when she did as told, John laid plates before her.

The arched windows still showed the view of the sea port, and the sky was still orangey but marked that of sunrise rather than sundown.

"By the way," the monk started, "what's your name?!"

"Mai!" she replied louder than the sizzling sounds on the pan.

"I see! You can call me Bou-san!" he shouted back.

"Okay."

"Do you want yours spicy?!" He shook the pan, jerked it upwards, and expertly caught all the contents in it.

In amazement, Mai didn't think much when she said, "Yes."

Still insisting to help, she brewed some white tea as the monk stir-fried something white, almost circular, and that has holes.

Standing beside the adult made her unable to take off a smile from her face. She'd never had brothers, but having one like the monk seemed a great idea for her...

_Or a dad..._

Mai giggled inwardly.

_Ah! I need to put my act together!_

"Bo-Bou-san...?" she began gently as the sizzling waned.

"Hm?"

"Where does Papa usually go?" she inquired as they sat to eat.

She wanted to play the abandoned-child-needing-father's-attention role quite well, so she decided to level up with the name-calling.

The monk hesitated to reply and then sighed. "Your irresponsible father is lass-roping."

Mai tilted her head. "What's that?"

"Well...I don't know if you'll understand, but that guy goes out early every day just to start wooing girls everywhere. I'd seen him in action once. Quite the playboy he is that it's scary. I'd never seen him beaten up because of it though. Must have evaded with magick."

Mai agreed with a nod before she could stop herself.

He loured and pointed his chopsticks to her. "Listen, Mai-chan. When you grow up, don't fall for guys like your dad; people like him will just hurt you."

Mai jounced her head agreeably and wished he didn't notice the blush on her cheeks. She clearly hoped she wouldn't too—fall in love that is...

Ah, no; she wouldn't! She's quite sure of it. After all, besides his astounding skills of magick and handsome face, there didn't seem to be any redeeming qualities about him.

_Just like I'm not his type, he's not my type too!_

An image of his smiling face flashed across her mind, and she shook her head. _No! That's just a dream!_

"Anyway," she diverted, "are you really a monk, Bou-san? How come your hair is long? How come you're in a wi—in Papa's castle?"

Bou-san laughed. "You're quite a curious little lady! It'll be fun to see you bother Shibuya! Oh well, alright. To answer, it's been a long time when I went down the mountain. I don't like being bald, and the monastery was so quiet—I'm more of a lively guy, you know? So, I came to town and started playing music, but magick intrigued me. So, I decided to train on a new sideline while I do exorcisms and street concerts."

Mai then mused if other monks were like him; she hadn't befriended a monk before.

"Ah! John, where's the screen?" Bou-san hollered.

"Wait a moment, Takigawa-san." John narrowed his eyes, and then a thin sheet of small square glass hovered near the fire.

"What's that?" Mai inquired, but the monk wasn't listening to her.

"Widen please," he ordered to no one in particular.

"About how much?"

"480p perhaps."

"Ok."

The glass expanded just like Mai's eyes.

_What is that for?_ Her childish curiosity was at its peak.

"Screen on," Bou-san commanded, and a burst of colors and a rush of sound sprung out from the enlarged glass.

"Wha—?" Mai blinked, and Bou-san smiled.

"It's the TV."

Mai could tell now, but she'd never encountered one that's absolutely wireless!

"Did the en—Papa—Did Papa make that?" She gulped her tea and glanced at the announcer of the morning news━a pink-clothed woman.

"Most likely," Bou-san answered. "I haven't seen anything like it from the others. To top it off, it's voice-controlled. Ah, is the screen too small?"

"It's okay—"

"HD, please. Oh, and 3D too."

Mai gaped as the newstudio and the announcer looked as though they got out of the thin glass and were seemingly as fleshy as the inhabitants of the castle.

"Amazing..." It was the first time Mai saw something inexplicably scientific or magical—or probably a mix of both. In the land of Wō, after all, magick was more relied upon than science (the latter and the former don't seem all that different for Mai, and she doesn't care to distinguish between the two, anyway), for the emperor concurred with being more environmental-friendly.

"I know, right?" Bou-san nodded. "Trust me, there's a lot more mouth-opening in this place.**"**

Of that she was quite sure, for Shibuya seemed quite flamboyant in using his powers.

Letting silence reign over them, they ate and harkened as the news announcer vanished, and in her place was...

"Your Majesty, is it really true that the Maou did not give any threats for the Hawthorne Convention?" somebody, in the unseen background, uttered.

The emperor had a sheer black veil over his face, which was covered with a white mask, and a black box-shaped hat. He also wore a purple kimono and some furry ivory pelt over his shoulders. No one knew what his face really looks like, but Mai heard he had lived for centuries.

Turning her head away from the life-like figure, Mai tilted her head. "What's the Hawthorne Convention?"

She didn't really listen to any news, nor was she interested with politics or anything besides her tea shop.

"It's a meeting of the emperor's coven."

"Coven? What's that?"

Helpfully, John answered, "A group of witches and wizards appointed by the emperor."

"Ooh..." Mai whirled back to the out-of-screen apparition.

There were clicks of cameras and a cacophony of questions before the person Mai-knew-very-well-as-the-Emperor raised his hands and silenced the unseen interrogators.

With an even and clear tone, he finally spoke, "First of all, Ubusuna-san has never posed as a danger to our conventions. We always think of her messages—or, as you termed it, threats—as an encouragement to do a better job. We may not agree to her ways of saving the magickal community, but we are one in motivation. Now, to answer your query, Ubusuna-san has not left us her usual message for the convention next weekend."

There came whispers and then a pounding on some wood to silence everyone.

"Your Majesty, do you not think of it as strange, then? Do you not, if I may be so bold, think that her silence for the convention's preparations may be deceiving?"

The emperor shook his head, but under his mask, he might be frowning. "As I have often said, we do not wish to speculate ill-humor in people. Despite her incessant promises—or, as you'd like to call, threats—she has not actualized any hostile action to the coven. It is improper for us to prejudge her again and again when she had done nothing to us."

"But, your Majesty, if i may be so bold, how about the Maou's terrorism in other countries? She has led fellow sorcerers to exterminate ordinary people, so do you not think of her as hazardous to national security, especially of those who do not use magick?"

The emperor sighed.

"Unfortunately, yes. We acknowledge her as a threat to national security but not a threat to the convention. The assemblies we've held throughout every year are always well-protected and hosted by the strongest witches and wizards the world has ever known━reasons why Ubusuna-san is not dangerous to our coven."

Mai tilted her head. _Why have they not caught her yet, then?_

"Your Majesty, we've also heard about the recent disappearance of the great diviner, along with some town mages. Will the coven—?"

"There's someone at the door!" John proclaimed, and Mai flinched.

Hastily gulping his tea, Bou-san shouted, "Screen off! John, hide that now! Anyway, who is it?"

"Three men bearing the insignia of the emperor—"

"His envoys?!" The monk turned to Mai and gave her a tiara. "Wear this to hide yourself!"

Mai obediently followed, and Bou-san took his sable hat from the broom cupboard and wore it before he opened the door.

As John had said, there were three men outside. They were wearing sky blue and white kimonos and ivory headbands with the crimson phoenix in an orange circle on the middle of their foreheads.

"Good morning, gentlemen. What can I do for you today?" Merlin-Takigawa greeted.

"Good morning, Sir Merlin. Is Narumi Kazuo there?" they spoke in unison.

"No..."

"Then, as usual, we will hand you his invitation. If this letter is not opened by the person addressed on it, the emperor will exercise his judgment, so please pass this to the rightful owner. The three of us will be witnesses that you have taken the letter for the medicine seller Narumi Kazuo."

The old monk just nodded as he took a foot-long bamboo trunk.

"Have an honest nice day!" They gave a salute and strode off.

Bou-san immediately closed the door and took off his hat.

Then John cried, "There's another batch! Kira Kira City!"

"Whoa! Wait a moment━"

"Still from the emperor!"

"Seriously..." Bou-san scratched his head, turned the colored knob in the middle of the door knob, and swung the door open again—but without wearing any disguise. The pointer was on the red hue.

"Sir Takigawa?" They wore the same clothes as the previous envoys, and Mai could not seem to distinguish their countenance from one another.

"Yes..."

"A message from the emperor for the ghost hunter. As witnesses, you will be liable if the news did not reach him and was opened before him. The contents of the letter consists of matters supposedly for national secrecy. Please refrain from temptation."

They were like robots after all...saying similar words as the ones in Port Nihon...

Mai however had averted her gaze from them and was blinking at the background. The capital was majestic with its sky-scraping pagodas and glimmering bejeweled roofs. The name of the city itself was befitting, and Mai was tempted to run outside. Bou-san had shut the door immediately though when he received another bamboo trunk.

He then placed the bamboo trunks on the table and resumed eating.

Mai took off the tiara and wondered. "Why is Papa given a letter from the emperor?"

"It's the usual invitation for the convention."

Mai gaped. "He's included in the coven?"

"No, but the emperor insists for him to join the assembly. His Majesty knew that Shibuya is the only one truly at par with the Maou, so he wants him to cooperate in the mission of executing the Maou."

"Does that mean the coven is tasked to kill the Maou?" Mai blurted.

Bou-san blinked at her. "Hearing the word _**kill**_ is harsh from a child like you...But it's not a wrong term I think...The Maou has been making the world a darker place than it already is."

"But the emperor said she has the same goals as him, right? What goal?"

"You're quite a bright little lady to understand all these things," Bou-san said in amazement, and Mai's eyes fluttered. It was then that she realized she'd been acting less than a child with her choice of questions and words.

"We-well, the adults who'd taken care of me were always talking about serious stuff, so I learned grave things from them." As much as she tried not to look away, she just couldn't seem to hold her gaze with the monk's.

"It must have been hard." The adult soughed and patted her head though.

"A-anyway, Bou-san, how did the Maou make the world a darker place?"

"Hm..." The monk scratched his head uneasily. "How should I say it...Ah...You know what's happening in other countries, right?"

Mai tilted her head and thought of how to phrase her response to make it sound more like a child of her body's current age than her real-time self. "Umm...they bring the witches and wizards to Nirvana, right?"

Bou-san nodded quickly. "Yes...that. That works. I mean to say, yes, that's what they do to people like Shibuya, but...it isn't right. Imagine families, children—many people prevented to live and pursue their dreams or happiness. I've heard that some who were suspected of witchcraft and wizardry aren't even witches or wizards! It's very inhuman, those persecutions..."

Mai's imagination was very vivid, so soon, a familiar dampness gathered in her eyes as she imagined a world engulfed by fire...Her loved ones screaming for help...Herself being helpless and unable to help because she wants to survive...

A world that was full of screams inside but was truly eerily silent outside. A world where even screams couldn't pierce the air before the crackling of flames drown all opposition.

Mai couldn't live like that. She coughed as though she choked smoke. The image was suffocating, and her head bowed.

"That's so sad..." She pretended to snuffle like a child, but she genuinely lost her appetite. "Why are they doing that to witches and wizards?"

Bou-san put down his chopsticks and examined her sadly. "Unlike Wō, other countries rely on science than magic. Also, men of science had backed up men of religion on their side to point out that magick besides being unscientific is also blasphemous."

"Blas—?"

"Against god. Work of the devil, they say."

"That's horrible...!"

She then thought that there are different kinds of bad guys in the world.

He nodded. "Yes."

There was a pause, and Mai picked on her food again so as not to waste Bou-san's cooking. Then...

"Well I can't really understand the Maou. She seemed to be against her fellow sorcerers, but then she's cruel to common folks too."

"If the coven has the strongest wizards, why can't they catch her?" Mai frowned.

Bou-san's mouth was full with food, so John responded for him, "You can ask Shibuya-san about it. The Maou has been trying to catch him. He knows her weaknesses and her goals. He's been stopping her endeavors as much as he can even without the encouragement of the emperor."

Bou-san swallowed and uttered, "Yeah..."

That signaled the end of their conversation as Bou-san saw the time and ate in a hurry. After consumption (the monk's cooking was top notch), Mai offered to wash the dishes, but Bou-san and John just told her to leave her plate on the sink, where it soon became squeaky clean as the castle.

Lesson learned: magick was scary but convenient.

Since Mai could smell the sourness of her armpits, she inquired about the bathroom, and the monk led her upstairs.

The second floor was as white as downstairs, but it was so blank. There were no paintings and no furniture. If not for the golden door knobs, Mai wouldn't recognize the doors at all from the walls. On top of that...

Mai observed that there are only two doors although the hallway is quite wide.

"Where does Na—Papa sleep?"

The monk pursed his lips. "Ah that...The door to his room vanishes when he leaves it. He's always been so secretive."

Mai just shrugged and left it at that.

* * *

><p><strong>XDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~<strong>

When Mai entered the bathroom, she felt displaced, especially when Bou-san closed the door. All four corners and the ceiling were flat and made of glass. The floor was covered with tatami mats (to ensure no one won't slip), and on a corner, a moderately high waterfall was filling a rather wide stone-made pool. With the splashes of water, it was most likely magick again that prevented the tatami mats from getting wet.

The pool water was turquoise blue just like the view on all corners and on the ceiling. Fishes in different colors swam beyond the glasses that encased the bathroom, and Mai was distracted enough with the fishes seemingly dancing everywhere she gaped.

Bou-san was right indeed; there were many things more jaw-dropping in there, and if there were more hidden rooms, it might take Mai years before she could discover all their wonders. Somehow, she was beginning to think that living in magick isn't that bad. Even if she dislikes the enchanter, he was indirectly giving her access to such fantastic magickal experiences that something dropped inside her stomach at the thought of being unable to stay in the future.

When she had enough of the aquarium view, Mai rose from the pool, which was shallow as though to accommodate her tiny form and which smelled like ripe fruits Mai couldn't name. As soon as she finished dressing up into a mint green floral sundress (which she frequently wore when she was really still a child), a corner of the room turned white, and the door appeared. Before long, Mai went down, and Bou-san ushered her to follow him.

"How was your bath?" John inquired, and Mai thumbs-up-ed.

"Amazing!"

The monk showed her towards the space under the stairs. Green silk curtains surrounded it, and Mai blinked at the monk.

"What's behind it?"

"It's not much, but while I can't persuade Shibuya to reconstruct this place, I can only prepare this small space for you..."

It was more than enough actually. She was free loading from then on after all (until her curse is broken), so she didn't expect she would even have a space in that place.

Sliding the curtains aside, Mai saw three heaped thin pallets on the floor and a green velvet coverlet laid for her.

Takigawa smiled reassuringly. "I'll get you some cute sheets later so that it'll feel homey. I would want to give you my room, but it's actually still a storage closet. It can be quite suffocating although there's no dust or dirt, and it seems like the boxes are stuck to each other and on the floor that I couldn't move them out..."

"It's perfect! Thank you, Bou-san!" Mai beamed and hugged the man's legs.

The monk was startled, but he then patted her head.

Although the enchanter was unlikable, his companions were different, and Mai was somehow grateful that her stay at the castle wouldn't be horrible after all. To repay John and Bou-san's kindness, Mai offered to watch the store. Bou-san didn't want to give her such a responsibility, so he gave her a skipping rope—which she just put down on the table when John offered to tell her a story.

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><p><strong>XDXDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~<strong>

"I'm going out for a while, so I'm closing the shop. If you're hungry, there are snacks in the pantry, ok?" Bou-san said while clutching a flower pot to his chest.

Mai just bobbed her head, and when the monk finally closed the door, she swished her head to John.

"It's alright if I peek at wherever that black one leads to, right?"

"Yes, but—"

Mai didn't wait for him to continue and dashed to the door in childish prance. She turned the colored knob on the door, and the black part landed by the pointer. Swinging the door open, Mai was met with a granite wall.

She stepped back reflexively and exclaimed, "Why is it—?"

"It's for precaution," John explicated from the hearth, "in case the Maou slips in here."

_First his room, and now this secret place? How can he be so thorough? _Mai pouted.

"It's not like the Maou can bust in here, right?" Mai asked. "If he's the only person the Maou can't stand against, doesn't that mean he's very strong?"

"Yes, but the Maou knows his weakness."

"Weakness? What weakness?" If Mai knew what it was, maybe she could persuade him to vanquish her curse—

"I'm sorry. I can't tell you," John said contritely.

_Dang! _

Mai growled inwardly.

Just then, the still ajar door slammed shut, and the disk on the lintel turned once more.

And speaking of the dev—wizard, he entered from (what Mai surmised as) the rocky ravine she'd fallen into yesterday. Consequently, seeing her by the door, he scowled.

"Don't open the door for too long," he spoke and went past her disapprovingly.

Pouting, Mai also went upstairs and grasped a side of his trousers. Looking down, he narrowed his eyes. "What is it?"

_Time to torture him._

Mai smiled and cooed, "Read me a story, _**Papa**_!"

He glared, and the room darkened and cooled. "No."

_Hmph. I won't give up!_

Undaunted, she jutted her lip. "Please?"

He squinted at her again. "No. Go play with John. It's not even bedtime."

Who said it's only bedtime that you can read stories? And how could she play with fire? Wasn't that supposed to be dangerous?

Mai didn't give up, however, and soon, tears welled up in her eyes. "Why won't you read for me, Papa? Do you hate me? *sniff* Uwahh..."

To her silent satisfaction, the enchanter stiffened and stared at her. He shunted his head, but Mai insisted while shaking his legs, "I just want Papa to read me a story! Why is Papa so mean to me? Uwaaaaaaaaahh..."

"You should read to her. It's not that hard," John's voice reverberated the room.

The enchanter furrowed his brows. "You—"

Mai glanced up at him expectantly with tearful kitten-wide eyes, and he loured and sighed.

"Fine."

"Yay~" She celebrated quickly, and she gazed at him dreamily and chirped, "I'll get some snacks first!"

She ran to the pantry to get them some box of cookies, and while she was deciding between the chocolate chip and the macademia kind, the enchanter neared John and asked in a muffled tone, "Did she get near here?"

"No. There's a rip on your jacket...Did you have a skirmish?"

"It's nothing—just got caught on a nail."

"She clawed you?"

The enchanter shrugged. "It's nothing worth caring about. Where is that monk?"

"He went out to test his spell."

"What's the probability of his success?"

"Pretty high."

"John! John! Make some green tea with lemon and roasted brown rice!" Mai's voice rang out from the pantry. The little girl then came back near the fire with two different boxes of cookies.

"Alright." John summoned the kettle to the hearth once more.

_You're very obedient_, Shibuya remarked inwardly, and John smiled at him.

_So are you, Shibuya-san._

Before he can glower at the flames, Mai grabbed the enchanter's hand and ushered him to the couch, where across was a table with a plate of the cookies Mai chose. She then sat on the floor, beside his right foot, propped up her elbows on the edge of the couch seat, leaned her chin on her entwined hands, and peered up at him eagerly. "Start reading now, Papa!"

Mai was definitely going to make sure her baby-sitter would answer to her demands.

* * *

><p><strong>XDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~<strong>

The enchanter was, by all means, a killjoy.

"Papa is so boring!" Mai narrowed her eyes while the enchanter was halfway a thin fairytale book entitled, "Snow White and Rose Red."

With a lour, the young man closed his book. "If you don't like my reading, ask someone else to read for you."

Mai made a moue with her mouth and shook her head. "No! I want Papa to read for me!"

He wasn't going to get out of the situation easily indeed.

The enchanter stared at the girl and loured more.

Mai clung to his pants and egged on, "Come on, Papa! Make the witch's voice better! Make Snow White's voice more girly too! Your normal voice sounds so horrible!"

Mai as a child was really the death of man's pride. No glare of his had receded her persistent energy. Fortunately, before the lad can sigh in resignation or use a frigid glom, John suggested, "How about you take her to the playground in town? She can befriend kids there."

The enchanter then had a gander at John and smirked. "I was about to."

He stood up, and Mai batted her eyelids. "Papa?"

"We're going out."

"That's—!"

The enchanter walked to the door without listening to her protest, and with a glower at John, Mai left with the wizard.

* * *

><p><strong>XDXDXDXD~nya~<strong>

The playground was just about four blocks to the left of the enchanter's shop in Port Nihon. It was full of kids. Parents or guardians were nonexistent, and Mai wondered if the children's safety was taken for granted because of extreme confidence on the kids themselves.

"Aren't you Sir Merlin's child?" a boy wearing a dark baggy shirt and shorts inquired to Mai.

Recognizing him from yesterday, Mai beamed. "Yes! Nice to meet you!"

"Onii-san, who is she?" a girl in a comely blue and white striped kimono asked. She had the same ebony hair as the boy who asked Mai, but she wore it long and in pigtails.

"Sir Merlin's child!" the boy answered and then asked Mai with a flush on his cheeks, "Would you play with us?"

Mai gazed up at the enchanter.

"Isn't he medicine man?" the boy's sister queried, and Mai nodded.

"Yup! He is my father!" Mai grinned at the frowning enchanter.

Not even questioning his youthfulness, the boy stepped up courageously and stared at the lad. "Medicine man, can she play with us?"

Shibuya's orbs lingered at the little boy, who tried his best not to cower under his measuring scrutiny. At last, the enchanter shrugged and told Mai, "Do what you want."

So before Mai can protest again, she was hurled by children's hands in the middle of the sand pool.

"We're playing 'Daruma-san has fallen down'!" the boy's sister informed. "Onii-san's the oni!"

The boy, whose name she found out was Warai, then turned around a few feet before them and drawled with a shaky voice, "DAAAAAAAAAARUUUUUUUUUUMAAAAA AAAAAAA-SAAAAAAAAAAAN..."

Imitating others, Mai moved towards Warai's back.

"...HAS FALLEN DOWN!"

They all stiffened, and Warai checked whoever moved. Nobody dared, and Warai turned his back again. The game carried on until the kids got tired of it, so they changed games. They soon started cops and robbers, and everyone was running and hiding before the kid-cops find them after counting.

The playground only had the bowing giraffe slide and igloo-like structure as good hiding places, so Mai couldn't count on those obvious spots. The rest of the kids headed to the trees, vending machines, and food stands surrounding the area. Mai, not knowing where to hide, dashed to the enchanter, who was sitting on a bench, with an expressionless face. Mai then shook his legs and said, "Papa, papa! Hide me!"

He gave her a gaze that showed his refusal, but Mai did not care. "Make me invisible, _**Papa**_!"

The enchanter did not budge, and Mai was spotted by one of the kid-cops. In mischief, she stomped on the enchanter's foot with all her might and sent him flinching. The lad shot daggers her way, but Mai just stuck her tongue out and said devilishly, "It's Papa's fault!"

She huffed and stayed in the stone-made igloo to wait for other kid robbers to save her from captivity. Luckily, Warai crawled to rescue Mai, and holding hands, they ducked behind a bush somewhere.

Mai giggled at the nostalgia the instance gave her. Usually, when she played games like that, it was her who rescues others.

Warai blinked at her as she tittered and finally got to ask her, "What is your name?"

Mai smiled. "I'm━"

"FOUND YOU!"

They were chased out of the bushes by a brunette boy, and Mai bumped into someone.

"Look where you're going," Shibuya remarked as he helped her up.

Mai just puffed up her cheeks. "Whatever."

"Kyaa! You two are so sweet!" Warai's sister exclaimed, appearing out of nowhere.

"Huh?" Mai's eyes twinkled.

"It's obvious, right?" A brunette kid-cop smirked.

Warai's sister flushed with glee. "He's jealous! Medicine man, are you two married?"

Mai and the enchanter were speechless as they failed to understand how marriage was attributed to their talk.

"Kyaa! They're married! You're still so young!"

_You're all young too_, the enchanter thought with a sigh. _Kids..._

"Fathers can marry their daughters?" another girl, who's one of the kid-cops, tilted her head.

"She is not my child," Shibuya corrected, and it finally went through the children's heads when he heard them gasp.

They then began whispering although he could still hear them. Somehow, all kids stopped hiding and chasing and gathered before Mai and Shibuya to join in the conversation.

"That's okay, right? If they're married? My mother says it's ok if you're not relatives."

"Yeah, but isn't he a pil?"

"You mean pile? You know...the enemy of children?"

"Wrong! It's not pil or pile! He's called a _**pedophile**_!" the brunette boy said proudly and pointed at the enchanter.

The enchanter glared, but the children were not scared.

"Wut's that? Isn't tat diffwent?"

"Isn't it **_pedobear_**? Not pedophile?" another nodded.

"Pedobear is a kind of pedophile!"

"But he's not a bear..."

"**_Pedoboy_**, then?" a child suggested.

"Stop thinking about pedophiles," the enchanter commanded, most likely restraining his irritation with just a cold look.

But the children were not fazed and instead pointed at him.

"_**Pedophile**_! Let's call the town mages!"

They pumped their fists and made a line.

"Yeah!"

And the troop went off.

Mai turned to the enchanter and playfully asked with a grin, "Papa is a _**pedophile**_?"

If looks could kill, Mai would have become sashimi, but the magickal lad just shunted his head before walking away.

He didn't hold out a hand, but Mai blinked, chortled, and clasped her tiny hand with his anyway. When he quirked an eyebrow at her, she just chimed, "Let's go home together, **_Papa_**!"

The enchanter then was confronted with a fact; even in the playground, he had a hard time. Children like Mai seemed more powerful in their assertiveness than the young wizard indeed.

Still, he couldn't just let go of Mai's small hand—a source of warmth he didn't find uncomfortable at all in that warm first day of June.

* * *

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Even though many days droned on like a copycat of one another, there would always be a day that would start dissimilarly━either because of a change in the routine-players or the necessity of the situation.

When Mai roused on a fine first Saturday of June, she thought she was dreaming again: She had returned to her older self, her real-time self. It was too good to be true. The pajamas she swore she'd worn the preceding night was lying, torn, below her and on the mattress. The curves endowed to her gender and own heritage characterized her physique. Her arms and legs were elongated once more, but her hair remained short.

It was good that the draperies enclosing her lair concealed her naked nubile form from another's eye; she wouldn't have been able to cover herself with the blanket equipped upon her by Bou-san.

Then she noticed a silhouette through the cloth barrier.

And the veils were slid aside to reveal a ravishing lad.

The enchanter and lady-turned-child-turned-lady-afresh ogled at each other for three seconds.

And then a screech shifted the moving castle upside down.

**XDXDXDXDXD~nya~**

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Muahahaha! Muahahaha! Muahahahaha!**

**Ok, enough of my silliness lol. next chapter is entitled "In which Mai has skipped." ^^ See you soon!**

**sashimi=raw fish sliced into thin pieces**

**onii-san=honorific for elder brothers**

**Daruma-san has fallen down=a game wherein the "it" is called an oni (demon). It's similar to the red light/green light game.**


	4. In Which Mai has Skipped

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed!**

**And nope, I haven't forgotten anyone. ^^ All the characters are not introduced yet, but they will be eventually. XD**

**XDXDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~**

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><p><strong>IV. In which Mai has skipped .VI<strong>

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><p><strong>XDXDXDXDXD~nya~<strong>

Heavy footsteps thudded on the staircase, and a disoriented and soporific yet vigilant Bou-san, in a white nightcap and long-sleeved sleeping gown, came into view.

"What, what?! Are we under attack, Shibuya?!" he exclaimed inquisitively to the young man sitting on the floor (as though he was thrown back there) near Mai's turf.

"KYAAA! Bou-san!"

The monk whipped his head to a seemingly nude maiden under a blanket and on supposedly Mai's bed...

"Stop looking, you perverts!" the lass shrieked again, and Naru immediately flicked his hand to shut the curtains as she lashed on them. Subsequently, John stirred with a yawn.

"What happened...?" the demon queried sluggishly.

The two men stared at him before Bou-san started to Naru, "Young man, where's Mai?! And who's that girl, and what were you doing with her?! I can't believe you're taking advantage of someone in your ca━!"

"He was not!" Mai defended, beet red, behind her shade.

"I didn't bring her here." Naru frowned at him. "I was checking on the girl myself, but it wasn't her I found. _**I **_should be the one asking _**you**_."

There was a snort from behind the draperies, and undaunted, the monk arched an eyebrow. "You shouldn't make excus━"

"Do you mean to say Mai's gone?" John interrupted. The head-ish fire hovered the grate with worry laced in its babyish features.

"I'm still here!" Mai hollered.

"No, John, there's a la━" Bou-san's eyes widened, and the wizard was not slow in realizing along with him.

"Did you give the girl anything from the jars or drawers?" the enchanter quizzed, straightening up.

"I didn't, but I made her watch the store yesterday..." the monk mused. "You think it's a growth charm?"

The enchanter shrugged but soon nodded to allay the grown-up. "Perhaps."

"Well, I know for sure that your girls never call me by my nickname, nor do they even know it...Mai!"

There was a gasp and then, "Bo-Bou-san...?"

Bou-san motioned towards the young woman, but Naru stalled him with a shake of his head.

"Mai! What happened?" the monk went on in concern.

"I-I don't know!"

"What happened to Mai-san, Shibuya-san?" John, still out of it, questioned, and the enchanter soughed.

"She grew."

"Ehhh?"

* * *

><p><strong>XDXDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~<strong>

Mai was given one of the enchanter's silk shirts, old breeches, and small unworn boots, and Naru and Bou-san uneasily waited in the drawing room as she dressed.

"You didn't even give her any underwear," Bou-san pointed out to the lad, and the latter glowered at him.

"I'm an _**enchanter**_, not a _**fairy godfather**_," he replied crossly.

"**_Father_**, you mean," Bou-san corrected━which earned him a withering look from the lad. "You know━"

"I have undergarments!" Mai yipped in abashment behind the veils with a blush.

The duo went mute, but they wondered what dress she could have sacrificed to make a traditional loincloth...

"I'm done," Mai announced after a few more minutes, and the curtains slid open. She then came out warily.

Although she'd anticipated to return to her original form, she only brought a few of her real-time unmentionables. Still, it was comforting that she didn't have to stress about that...

The enchanter and monk scanned her for a moment before Naru averted his eyes with a nod of approval (which he attributed to his own taste of clothing rather than Mai's sense of style in wearing his apparel━she tucked the shirt in just so it puffs on her waistline), and Bou-san hurtled to her.

"Are you alright? Do you feel like vomiting? Do you remember eating something from the jars or drawers?"

"Um...no..." She shrugged and briefly glanced at the narcissist.

_Does he recognize me? He doesn't, right? My hair's short unlike before..._

"Don't worry. We'll discover how to undo the spell━" Bou-san assured.

"We can't," Shibuya declared, and the monk yelled, "What?!"

"It can't be undone, but it will wear off by the end of the day," the enchanter informed.

Mai blinked at him but didn't say a word. After all, they didn't know she wasn't in any growth charm.

_He should have recognized me...But did he forget my face? It's just a few days ago since I met him..._

She had just reverted to her old self, but...

"John, stop the castle ashore of Akuryō lake," the enchanter ordered and disappeared soundlessly.

Bou-san suspired at the deserted spot where the lad had been. "Sheesh that guy..."

"Did he leave already?" Mai catechized. Although he could just teleport wherever, she only saw Shibuya use the front door on his way in and out.

"Not yet," John replied. "He's reading."

"That guy reads even when he's bathing or sitting on the toilet bowl," Bou-san said, and Mai laughed heartily.

"You spied on him that much, Bou-san?" She chuckled.

Somehow still perplexed with her transformation, the monk managed a shy smile. Eventually he scratched his head, and then with an edgy glom to grown Mai, he excused himself and said he'd be changing.

Finally left alone with John, Mai interrogated the blaze in susurration, "Did you do this? Did you break mi-mine?"

John shook his alight head.

"The-then, why?"

"I don't know..." John's eyes brightened. "It must be the Maou!"

"What do you mean?" Mai was skeptical that the Maou would take her curse back so easily.

"She might be getting weak! Or she's just sick right now!"

Mai nictated. "She is?"

"Yes...Shibuya-san had told me her powers were fluctuating..."

"The-then━?"

"Your spell isn't broken yet..." John said sadly.

"Then how━?"

"It's just temporary. Besides, I believe that's not your real age?"

Mai blinked and pondered. Indeed, the last time she saw her naked real-time self, she wasn't so busty...

She gasped. _Could it be...I'm older?!_

"Jo-John! How━?"

"You can check your age."

A drawer opened, and a quill with quetzal tail feather zoomed to Mai, and she absentmindedly took it.

"What's this?"

"Try to write with it."

Mai reluctantly went to the workbench and got one of the rice papers Bou-san had piled on one side for his spells. And as instructed, she tried to scrawl on the paper.

Her hands moved without her volition, and she became aware that it was the quill which compelled her to trace a fat 2 and 0 on the material.

"This..." Mai gazed at the paper in startlement.

"What did you write?" John asked.

"Twenty."

"You're twenty years old, then━three years ahead of Shibuya-san. How many years older from your real age?"

"Fo━" Mai bit her lip, but John got it.

"You'll most likely return to a child before sunset," he speculated.

"Are you sure about that?" _Not to my real-time body?_

"Yes."

Mai sighed. "Why can't things just get right?"

"You'll break out of it soon," John assured. "The curse, I mean."

"I haven't even broken yours, John, and it's barely a week. Your stories barely gave me a hint too..."

"About that...A clue is about to come the following days," John leaked.

Mai neared him and asked, "Is that a demon's intuition?"

"Probably. It's something I just know beforehand but couldn't explain how." He furrowed his flaming brows.

_Can he see the future?_

Mai stared at the ceiling and at the holes that gave an eyeshot of the young morning amber and sapphire sky. The enchanter and monk didn't come down yet, so starving Mai began cooking breakfast. Like a predator smelling prey, an expectant monk-clothed Bou-san descended at last. John magically handed him a plate filled with broiled salmon and sliced pieces of rolled omelet, bowls of rice and miso soup, and a cup of white tea.

Many pans were laid out on the fireplace, and Mai turned to each as though she's having the time of her life.

Quite astonished, the monk queried, "You can cook?"

Mai smiled and nodded. "I'd told you I could."

The monk shrugged and inclined his head and simpered. "You did. Thanks..."

"You're welcome," Mai responded as the monk sat before the cleared up workbench. Next, he kindly waited for her to finish cooking her meal.

"You should cook for Shibuya-san too," John said furtively to Mai's alarm.

"Did he tell you he'll eat here?"

John beamed warmly under the pan. "No, but I know he will."

Shrugging, Mai did what he requested, and without fail, the wizard did come down the stairs to dine with them. Mai felt quite addled by the turn of events, yet Bou-san didn't seem to think of it as peculiar━as though he knew that the lad would partake a repast with them. Trying not to be rude though, Mai bit her lip to discourage prattling by herself; the enchanter was still the one who owned the castle she'd been sojourning, so she ought to be prudent and cautious in voicing out (or she might get hexed again).

"You should visit Hara-san, you know," Bou-san cut through the chewing quiet. "I can't always tell her that you're busy when I frequently exorcise houses in her village."

_Hara-san? _Mai twinkled at the shrugging enchanter as she sipped her tea. Exchanges with the lad seemed very hard to come by.

"You didn't tell her where we are, did you?" the younger man inquired suspiciously.

"Of course I didn't," Bou-san replied, "but why won't you give her one of the shop's addresses? You seem to like her."

Mai felt quite upset knowing that, but she tried not to let it show. _Why should I...become...upset anyway?_

"I _**respect**_ her," the wizard said simply, and Mai felt envy for the unfamiliar lady. By how he uttered his view of this 'Hara-san,' he seemed to acknowledge her...very well.

Mai gazed down at her food. _Why am I being like this? He's a playboy! My future will be dim if I get too attached! I'll only be staying for a while here! I shouldn't be too close to all of them!_

Mai nodded and consumed her grub. The younger man soon inquired about the shop, but it was out of inspection rather than concern. Mai finished ahead of him and the monk, yet the wizard followed. They placed their plates on the sink━where the dishes immediately became squeaky clean━but shunted their heads from each other. Mai was about to go to her den and the enchanter to the exit when Bou-san rang out, "Wait, you two."

The enchanter raised an eyebrow as he stopped in his tracks, and Mai peered at the monk in wonder herself.

"We just ate all the fish in the pantry," Bou-san proclaimed.

"So?" the enchanter cross-examined.

"We don't have anything fresh in the pantry anymore, so how about you take Mai to the market?" Bou-san supplied. "I still have that reversal spell to try on when I go out to do an exorcism, so..."

That June day, he was going to do some flower magick but with a different plant, having grouped bluish and purplish blossoms, which he'd pointed to them with his head.

The monk regarded them anticipatorily, and Shibuya jounced his head with a side-glance.

"Fine. I can go by myself."

Bou-san frowned as Mai soughed. "There's a summer festival in towns today, and besides, fathers and daughters should have heart-to-heart talks, you know?"

Mai couldn't believe what Bou-san was saying. _How could a daughter who's become older than her "father" have a heart-to-heart talk?!_ _What the hell?_

Not that she looked older though, and she wasn't taller either. Still Mai expected the unsociable (to them) lad to glare, but he just shrugged and inclined his head to her before going out. Ushered by Bou-san, Mai hadn't defied and followed the young man out.

She was supposed to be against it. She shouldn't get close to him in her almost real-time form. She couldn't make the enchanter know her situation and relation to the Maou. Who knew what curse he'd give to her? Additionally their first encounter wasn't pleasing either, and she hardly knew him to trust him.

The enchanter turned the colored knob (the hand on the lintel's dial pointed from black to green) and swung open the door.

Mai instinctively emitted a gasp. The castle didn't squeeze in a rocky ravine anymore. Instead, it stood on a grassy shore of an ultimately pulchritudinous clear turquoise lake. At the bottom of the lake were apparent criss-crossing fallen ancient tree trunks with underwater foliage covering most of them. Fishes appeared vulnerable with the water's extreme clarity. Broad-leaf forests and woodlands surrounded the shore, and the melody of thousands of birds reflected back and forth the hills and mountains.

Mai's reveling was cut short when pale hands thrust a thistle skipping rope in her right hand━the one she recollected Bou-san had given her.

"Wha**-**what's━?"

"You'll be skipping," he answered crisply, and Mai nictated.

_Is this guy joking with me? He wants me to play a skipping rope while he fools around?_

Mai naturally shot katanas at him. "Why should I━?"

"We'll be skipping to Straightening Valley," he explicated.

Bemused, Mai nictated afresh at him.

"How are we going to do that?" she asked blankly and reddened.

She was becoming coy around him. It was the first time they spoke so...casually to each other ever since about three days , she couldn't look at his eyes properly without remembering her sweeter version of him in her reiterative dreams. Mai had honestly liked a lot of boys in her lifetime, but never..._**never**_ did she become so abashed with a boy like that **"**Naru" before her.

"With the skipping rope in your hand, of course," he riposted, but Mai's attention was somewhere else.

She bit her lip as her thoughts wreaked havoc in her head's recesses. _You're his child, remember? Act like it!_

There was a sigh from the enchanter when she didn't seem to hear his reply. "You're hopeless."

That one she heard, and she reflexively shot him a wry look. "You jer━!"

Naru held her right wrist and took the skipping rope from her hand. Subsequently he gently instructed her to grab each handle of the tool and stood behind her before grasping her wrists from behind.

Even when she's become older than him, he was still taller. His proximity produced a rapid pounding of her heart. His sable black pants were tickling the back of her shins, which her breeches naturally couldn't hide. His breath was heating up her nape, where her recently shoulder-length auburn hair had parted, and making her shudder. He was doing it again; he was seizing her senses like he did when they both hovered on a cyclone in an alley a few days ago.

"Wha-Why are you━?"

"Jump with me," he said, and her body tingled.

She couldn't seem to oppose his command, so she was convinced that he was manipulating her like a puppet in his show. It irked her, but at the same time, she...was elated at his touch on her wrists.

_How can I pretend he's my father when I'm harboring such_..._uneasiness? How can I in this feminine form?_

As instructed, Mai swayed the skipping rope backwards over the two of them and then forward...

They jumped.

* * *

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At first she was upright on the shore of a breathtaking lake, and next she was slipping and yelping on a wet rock at the brink of some waterfalls.

"Don't panic," Naru told her from behind while gripping her hand that was clutching the handles of the skipping rope and simultaneously crossing his arms over her waist so that she wouldn't fall. "Let's skip again."

"But we'll fall!" Mai protested. If she wasn't so concerned about her life, she would have become embarrassed at the intimacy of which he was embracing her.

"We won't."

And with a sleight and swiftness of hands, he briskly uncrossed his arms, lifted her up by her wrists (which made her hover in airspace), and twirled the skipping rope under their feet. There was a ZAP, and everything else was a blur on all sides of them.

Before long they were on a meadow by a brook. ZAP! They're on an ice cap. ZAP! They're on top of a canopy tree. ZAP! They stood under the torii of a well-kept shrine. Mai almost fell down the very long staircase below them if Naru didn't hug her waist and balance her.

"We're here," he informed as he steadied her.

At that instance Mai became cognizant at last of his embrace and coyly muttered, "Yo-You can let go now. Thanks━"

Naru released her briskly and just said, "Let's go."

Without even looking back at her, he descended the staircase, and Mai gaped and shook her head at him. Chucking the skipping rope in a pocket of her breeches—making it bulk—and growling inwardly, she traipsed down the staircase behind him while thinking, _Why should I even bother being grateful? He's a jeeeeeeeeeerrrrkk._

On the bottom of the staircase, they found themselves on the end of a road of a rowdy town. As the youngsters sauntered straight ahead, they noted the irregularities of the streets that branched out from the main road they were walking on. Some streets had cobblestone steps; others had asphalt grounds, and most were bare or had slightly grassy earth. The buildings were diverse too. There were thatched huts, traditional Wō structures, and Westernized shops or homes. There were even tepees and shoe-shaped houses!

Almost everybody was making a sound━either knocking, talking, shouting, whistling, tapping, creaking, crying, and so on. So much liveliness was quite infectious, and Mai was soon running around the place. She'd never thought of it before, but if not for her responsibility in her tea shop, she might have enjoyed her sixteen years of life like others. She'd always been bubbly but at appropriate times. On that June day, however, she felt quite sprightful. She had nothing else in mind except amusing herself like a liberated wild animal.

Men in white and blue kimonos thumped on big drums. Others carried around mikoshi and other palanquins. She spotted town mages, with their crimson capes and phoenix-crested headbands, here and there. Children in colorful kimonos chased one another. In their hands were either pinwheels, apple candies, umbrellas, or masks. Some little boys gathered around to watch their spinning wooden tops. Other children flew their distinct kites, which seemingly fluttered with the vertical banners of some stores.

In a square, adults cheered as sumo wrestlers pounded the floor with their large feet. To Mai's embarrassment, she almost collided with jogging men wearing nothing but loincloths. Fried food and soy sauce and honey and other food odors wafted to her nostrils. Though she was full after breakfast, the sights of various dishes were whetting her appetite again.

Maybe it's the festive mood, but after a little roving, Mai found herself holding free snacks. The vendors were generous—giving her samples of their food when she simply passed by. When she passed by people hammering mochi in a stone basin, she was invited to try the sticky food and even help the makers pound and form the cakes.

Mai blew out bubbles, tinkled wind chimes, turned pinwheels, and wore animal masks. She somehow forgot they were there to buy fish in the first place.

There were no fireworks yet, but colorful smokes shot to the air, and jet planes wrote colorful words with their smoking trails. Everywhere she looked brought her beaming like a child who first accomplished something.

The enchanter followed behind Mai like a sullen shadow. Many times he would accost a young woman in some shop, and Mai would hurl him somewhere else with a, "Papa, I want to eat this!" or "Papa, buy me this hairpin!" and "Papa, let's have ourselves painted!" She was playing 'his offspring' role to the best of her ability and for the satisfaction of seeing him failing to woo another lady in front of her.

Jealousy or father complex, she didn't ruminate profoundly about her objectives, but she just somehow wanted to spend that one day with him. After all, what if it would be her last? What if she would be stuck in her twenty-year-old self and would have to part then? As long as she would be a young woman again, she would leave his castle without any other ado. Besides she didn't expect much from her fleeting infatuation with him; she preferred a sweet, kind, and mirthful lad than Naru, and she was convinced that if not for the hope instigated by her gentle images of him in her sleep, she wouldn't feel anything for him at all. He was, truthfully, as bland as a dead slug. At least she wouldn't want a man who loves himself more than his lover; the conflict would just be frustrating.

Anyway just as Mai was interrupting his "lass-roping," as Bou-san termed it, so was Naru shooing the guys she would come to mingle with (to her obliviousness). It was probably retribution to her interceptions that the enchanter would glare and freeze up the young men she comes in contact with. Such was a long battle against the two, and it carried on even after lunch. No matter how meddlesome she was in his business though, the enchanter never left her alone, and she felt secured with his...stalking—if that even made sense.

"Hey, Papa." Mai tugged his sleeve playfully after taking a box of mixed seafood tempura, which she made him pay. (Oddly, the enchanter never complained about her address of him.) "Why did you become an enchanter?"

He gazed at her and seemed to have no intention of replying. Then he diverted his gaze to a clothing store while saying, "Because it's not bothersome."

Mid-chewing, Mai blinked and swallowed. Offering him some tempura—which he declined—and shrugging, she rephrased, "You mean it's interesting?"

"Perhaps." He began approaching the store he was eying previously, and Mai followed him.

"Pick what you want," he said. He was clearly shooing her so that he could hit on a rather good-looking saleslady by the counter (Mai discovered that it was the lady he was staring at and not the goods themselves). Although she wanted to discourage his conquest, she descried a honeydew dress and somehow wanted to try it.

_He's paying anyway._ She smirked and handed her tempura to the wizard before snatching the raiment and heading to the fitting stall. It only took a few minutes to undress and don. She felt the ensemble lacking though, so she also grabbed some cerulean huaraches. Loving how she appeared glowing on the mirror, she strode out the stall and decided to ask the enchanter if she could have the two body articles.

Yet the lad was veeery busy flirting; he didn't look like it, but Mai surmised he was using a cold-but-mysterious-expression wooing technique. His mouth was quirked in a smile, but his eyes weren't smiling; the saleslady was tricked by this and was even coquettishly eating the tempura Mai had made Naru buy. Then again, Mai could tell what was flirting even if the person was someone aloof.

So, feeling mischievous, she hopped to him while calling, "Papa, Papa! I want this!"

She pointed to the dress she was wearing, and it was to her secret satisfaction to see the saleslady's orbs bulge as though they were going to pop out any minute.

"Papa?" she repeated in shock with a glom at Naru, who was glaring at Mai. "She's—?"

"I'm his daughter!" Mai declared before the enchanter could say anything.

"Daughter?" the saleslady's tone increased with her bewilderment. "How could a young man have a young woman for a daughter?"

Mai smiled and covered Naru's mouth before he could defend himself.

"Well, Papa's actually very old~ He's just using magic to hide his real wrinkled self!"

_From now on, you'll look like an extremely wrinkled old man to all girls you're hitting on!_ Mai thought wickedly as she sneered at the wizard.

The saleslady blinked at Mai, stared at the narcissist again, and gasped. She looked as though she saw something horrible and foolishly believed Mai because she glowered at the enchanter. "Yo-you disgusting old man!"

She threw a shirt his way, snubbed him, and walked away.

The enchanter was apparently miffed by this, but he just looked at Mai icily.

The girl just shrugged. Inwardly, she was thinking, _Serves you right, womanizer._

With a sigh, the enchanter paid for her attire. (It was supposed to have a 20% discount, but the saleslady-turned-cashier didn't include it).

* * *

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Straightening Valley was divided by a clear teal river. As Mai followed Naru on the bridge over the sparkling body of water, her conscience took over, and she realized that she shouldn't have minded his own business...

_I overdid it...I think._

After all, the one she's supposedly seeking revenge towards the most was the Maou.

"I'm sorry if I did that," Mai appeased as she ran after him while carrying the box filled with the clothes and boots she'd borrowed from him. (She didn't redress.)

"I just didn't want you to hurt another girl..." she murmured...but she somehow felt that she was lying...

Naru didn't look back at her and just walked on. Sighing at his silent treatment, Mai just let him lead her wherever he wanted.

The other end of the main road consisted mostly of towering and lucent houses (seemingly home to the affluent) on the bottom of a mountain. On that part of town, they halted before a selcouth abode. It was shaped like a big red and white polka-dotted mushroom, and its thick stalk looked like it really sprouted from the ground. Hanging by the side of the door was a bell with a string stretching towards and in a tiny loop on the mailbox by the bamboo gate.

Curiously, Mai inquired, "Whose house is it?"

Finally Naru spun and replied to her in a mind-your-own-business tone, "The woman I'm smitten of. A woman named Madoka Mori."

Mai felt as if her tongue was cut off.

* * *

><p><strong>XDXDXDXDXD~nya~<strong>

_Madoka Mori._

_Madoka. _

_Mori._

Mai blinked her chocolate brown eyes.

_Did...I hear him right?_

"Who-who did you say again?" Mai stammered.

"Madoka Mori," Naru repeated, and she gasped and goggled at him.

_My sister! He's in love with my sister? No! He's probably going to eat her heart!_

There went her thoughts.

Naru raised an eyebrow at her and then pulled the string of the bell. Instead of tinkling, the bell produced a loud gong-like sound, which throbbed Mai's head...

"Who's there?" the real Madoka's voice rang out from inside the house, and the front door opened slowly...

The next instance...Mai couldn't explain why it occurred. Just that one of her hands was free while the other hooked the borrowed clothes and shoes on her left side.

So within milliseconds she swiveled Naru's head to her with her free hand...

And kissed him on tiptoe.

* * *

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Like a bee full will nectar...

That was how Mai felt.

Her mind was prancing and galloping over hurdles. Her heart was pounding like a fast drumbeat. It was maddening, but she didn't hate the sensation.

It was like electricity shot up through her veins and made her heart do some tap dance. It didn't sting, but it was like the world was animated for the first time...

But she wasn't looking at anything at all. She was closing her eyes...

Lips locking, parting, and moving, Mai was so intoxicated with the taste of the enchanter's━

_WHAT?!_

Her eyes flew open, and she was eye-to-eye with...

She glanced down, and what she saw terrified her.

_OH MY GO━!_

Mai pulled away with a sound that was like a mix of gasping and choking, and her hand covered her mouth. Buzzing sounds were in her head, and she couldn't hear anything else.

_What did I do, what did I do, what did I just do?! _She was screaming in her mind, but she was utterly thunderstruck. _What's with this development I've incurred?!_

Paralyzed, the narcissist stared at her with an incomprehensible face, and Mai, turning deep scarlet, exclaimed, "So-sorry!"

And she sprinted away as fast as she could until towards the shrine where they landed.

* * *

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The stair-trip to the shrine was very taxing that Mai forgot what she was running from for a moment and ascended with heavy pants as though her life depended on it. Sometimes, random challenges like that could be really distracting, and thankfully that was Mai needed.

Mai almost collapsed under the torii, but she managed to stop herself and blow her sticking bangs off her sweating face. Wiping her sweat with the borrowed clothes, she decided to look for a place she can retire for a while.

_Finally! _She huffed.

The shrine was decrepit. The offering box was full of dust. The tiles on its roofs had fallen off, and there were holes in it just like its walls. The floorboards on the porch were sticking out on ends due to loosened nails, and some had decayed enough. The shoji doors had its paper torn and frames broken. The lion-like stone statues had its body parts chipped off. The small pool for washing hands was murky, and dead leaves were everywhere on the ground.

It was no wonder why festivals aren't held there anymore; the people in town had started to stop believing in any god. The new shrine they'd built did not house fox statues but real people, the town mages. Knowing this, Mai felt sad for the abandoned god, so she willed to join it in its sorrow by proceeding to the back.

Slumping (as carefully as she could—or else she'll make another hole) on the back porch and recalling her last deed, Mai sighed. "Kami-sama, I did something bad..."

Blushing, she raked her hands through her hair. Although her mind was convinced that it was a wrongdoing, a part of her was arguing against the accusation. It was unavoidable, for she was a young maiden at heart and had been dreaming of the wizard... A novice in romance, to have a sudden development with a young man was...heart-stopping...!

She shook her head.

_No!_

She knew. It was wrong. _**She**_ was wrong. And the thought of _**her**_, supposedly a child-become-woman to the enchanter, doing advances to—

Mai scrunched her eyes shut and covered her ears as though she can stop herself from listening to her conscience.

"What should I do, Kami-sama? How can I go back to the castle and face him?!"

Nobody answered except a swift cool breeze. The shrine was surrounded by tall old oak trees and some persimmon and peach trees. Their leaves swayed and rustled, and Mai closed her eyes.

In that quiet and unknown place, she felt unafraid.

Still, she couldn't conjure an answer to her own query.

She clenched her fists on her lap and pounded on it. Then, realization struck, and she mused, _I don't have to go back. I can just stay here...anywhere._

_Besides, it's only a few days that I'm staying there...Leaving isn't really hard, right?_

Mai pumped her fist. "That's right!"

She remembered the skipping rope and rummaged the breeches for it...but she couldn't find it.

_Did he take it? When━_

Gone was her quick escaping tool.

She knew it was just her trying to escape confrontation. She knew it was just her way of avoiding embarrassment, but it didn't matter.

_So what?_

_It's not like getting out of this curse can only be by that enchanter's side! There are mages everywhere! Besides, there's that Emperor's coven, right? Those people in it are probably as strong (or stronger) than the Maou!_

"Maybe, if I'm lucky, I'd get an appointment with one of them or something, right, Kami-sama?"

As expected, nobody answered in that decrepit building. Only the rustle of blades of grass and the croaking of crickets could be heard.

Mai was used to silence. Her sisters had left her alone just after she'd graduated middle school, and for a year, Mai was left with no one to talk to at home but herself. It was her solitary life that made soliloquy her habit. Although she knew it was insane of her to speak to inanimate objects, she persisted, for even if she was accustomed to silence, she didn't want to be silent. She needed to open her mouth in order to breathe her hate, joy, relief, and etcetera. She needed to make noise to comfort herself.

Mai hunched and buried her forehead on her lap.

_I'm alone again...Isn't that nice? I could talk to myself and not worry about what others will say...I won't have to worry that my tongue will slip and that I may burst in flames in result. I won't have to worry about what I should do when I see that narcissist..._

For reasons unknown to her, a wet bead dripped down on her skirt, and her eyes blurred. Despite all the advantages of the solitary life, deep inside her was a contrary monster awaiting to be unleashed.

"I'm such an idiot, Kami-sama..." she sniffed. "I...Even though I thought it was fine...I'm not...The truth is...I don't really want to be alone."

When she bid her sisters goodbye a year ago, she wanted to stop them from leaving. She wanted them to spoil her with their love and presence. She wanted them to take care of her.

But she couldn't. She didn't want to be cast away as a selfish child. She didn't want to be hated by her sisters because she's obstructing them in pursuing their dreams.

She didn't want to be called a burden...

There came a loud whinny, and Mai winced out from her misery. She swished her head around to trace the origin of the noise. There was movement in the corner of her right eye, and she turned around.

Her mouth hung open as, in the distance, she saw a black horse. It stared at her and neighed. Its black mane was covering its left eye, and when Mai moved towards it, she noticed that it has strong black wings...

Mai gaped at what she discovered.

"You can fly...?" Somehow, nothing should have surprised her anymore.

The world had opened up to her, and Mai now knew its endless possibilities.

As though it could understand her, the horse bobbed its head, and Mai was grinning.

She was not alone.

She wouldn't be forever alone.

She would build a place for herself...a place where she wouldn't be alone.

_This is it! I could escape and fly wherever! I'll go back to the tea shop and then I'll meet the Emperor! I'll ask for him to lend me a strong witch or wizard!_

Bowing and clapping her hands in a plead, she asked, "Can I ride you? I'm lost, and I want to go home."

The horse shrugged under her touch on its head, but as though in agreement, it sunk down and sat on the earth and pointed its mouth to its back (like a gesture for her to ride on him).

"Thanks!" Mai hopped on its back, and then it stood before she could situate herself properly. Yelping, she held its mane immediately as it flapped open its majestic sable wings.

It started galloping towards the shrine, and before she knew it, they were flying over the dilapidated structure, over the torii, and over the town. The horse circled and whipped around towards Market Nippon.

* * *

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"Wait, what are you doing?! NO!" Mai shouted as the flying horse neared what she now recognized as Naru's white moving castle, which still sat on the shore of a beautiful turquoise lake. "That isn't my home! WAI━!"

The horse disobeyed her commands, and it swooped to one of the flues. With a swift turnaround, Mai was swept in the air and then was falling and sliding down a flue while screaming incoherent sounds.

And she plopped on the familiar ivory sofa and bounced off to the floor.

"Ow..."

Mai squinted her eyes in slight pain.

_That freaking horse! Why did it take me back here?! Some magickal conspiracy!_

Mai quietly cursed everything, the world, that seemed to conspire against her.

_What am I supposed to do?_

She sat up and rubbed her aching limbs. She was back in the white living-dining-kitchen room.

She was back...and still clueless.

_How can I face him?!_

Mai stood and schlepped to the door. The pointer was on the black hue, so Mai turned the colored knob to change the portal.

_I must escape!_

But then the knob wouldn't budge.

Mai blinked and twisted the knob again, yet nothing happened at all. She kept on trying to change the color where the pointer is on the lintel's dial, but nothing worked.

_Why? Why is everything stopping me from escaping?_

Glancing at John, who was sleeping (to her astonishment), Mai thought of another plan.

* * *

><p><strong>XDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~<strong>

"You have to do it, John. It's the only way."

John shook his head. "But it said you'll die if I'll expel it from you! I can't possibly let you━"

The blurry figure of a woman shook her head and held his hands. "Please. We both know there's no other choice."

"There's always a choice! I'll save you! I just need more ti━"

"John! John!" Mai's voice intercepted, and the demon was awoken from his afternoon nap by a pale Mai poking the grate with fire chopsticks.

Her eyes lighting up with relief, she began, "Jo-John! What should I do?!**"**

Still sleepy and disoriented, the fiend winced and scintillated. "Mai-san...? Wha-what do you━?"

Very appalled, Mai raked her hands through her hair. "I kissed him! The wizard! I mean, the enchanter or aaaaaahhh! Whatever he's called!**"**

John blinked and blushed as though he was the one who osculated the enchanter instead."Tha-that━why━?**"**

He felt helpless at that instance as he was all alone, and matters of the heart were never his expertise. The monk had already departed to his mission...

**"**I learned that he's been enticing my sister, and I just━just wanted my sister to dump him when she sees me and him! I couldn't let him eat my sister's heart!**"**

"Ahh...Shibuya-san doesn't eat hearts, Mai. It's just a rumor Takigawa-san spread in Market Nippon so that no one would dare approach this castle...**"**

Mai's eyelids flitted, but she was disturbed. Was she wrong after all? Was he really smitten with her sister? And her sister with him?

She was then aghast.

"Oh Kami forbid, what if I'd hurt her?! No! More than that, what should I do? Wha-what if that narcissist turns me into a frog when he comes back?! John, is there a spell you can cast on him to help me? Please, I beg of you!" she uttered in panic.

She soon prostrated in front of the fire, and John humbly said, "Rise, Mai-san! I'm sorry, but I can't help you. I don't know any spells that can get past Shibuya-san. He's the strongest and subtlest sorcerer there is."

"Then what should I do? Isn't there anything I can try at all?" she asked hopefully and desperately.

"It's true that there's something you can try, but..." John hesitated.

"What is it? Do tell me, John," Mai pleaded, and John sighed.

"Okay. But there's no guarantee it'll work, Mai-san."

Mai sighed and nodded and slightly smiled. "Well...there's no harm in trying, right?"

John shrugged and good-heartedly divulged to Mai his concocted plan, and the conflicted girl was bobbing her head in deep focus.

He was her last magickal hope.

* * *

><p><strong>XDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~<strong>

The narcissist, Kazuya Shibuya, froze and stared into space as a film rolled in his mind. In his sight, his look-alike smiled at him, and he was his 15-year-old self again.

"Gene, do you really have to go?" a girl's voice sounded, and it took him a second to realize it was him speaking...

The enchanter right away presumed the voice was from the perspective he was seeing. Meanwhile, Gene, his twin, stopped smiling and nodded while looking away. "I must. I have to defeat the Maou, Mai. It's the only way I can protect you."

"But━!" Again, his (or her) mouth moved.

Gene put a finger to the girl's lips. "It'll be alright."

He cracked a radiant smile, and Shibuya, or Naru, felt his certainty too.

The memory vanished swiftly, and the narcissist blinked.

_Gene...and that little girl? _he mulled.

It was then that he became cognizant that he'd been wrong all along. After inveigling many young women, he finally discovered the person Gene had told him to protect before the former evanesced from the world.

She was right under his nose all along...and he hadn't even paid enough attention from the first time she saw her the day before yesterday...

_It wasn't Madoka, after all?_ he pondered. The revelation was very puzzling...but it made sense. For even after a few weeks since he'd visited Madoka, he didn't find any other memory of hers that included his brother...

But why...was his brother smitten with an _**enchanted**_ six or seven-year-old girl?

Naru fished out his golden-framed mirror and glowered at it.

_You lady killer_, he thought, frowning at the mirror before him. _Of all the girls, why a hexed child?_

His mind could not seem to understand his twin's quirks at all.

But could there be something to the little girl that more than meets the eye?

Something...magickal before the magick that entraps her recently?

Was such a thing like love attributed to magick in his brother's situation?

He shrugged.

She did seem more...mature than her age...and when she became older that day...she...seemed natural...but acted like someone younger than her current age...

Younger...? Enchanted...?

"Um...?" a voice registered through his ears, and Naru whirled to a redheaded woman behind the bamboo gate.

"Madoka," he greeted with an inclination of his head, and the woman gazed at him in surprise.

"I'm sorry, but...how did you know my name, ojii-san?" she asked earnestly.

His consciousness elsewhere and seemingly deadpan, the enchanter peered at her for a long while.

_Younger...than Madoka?_

At that moment, an image of a girl brandishing a broomstick invaded his mind. Then he blinked in realization, and it was as though he just pulled a rabbit out of a hat.

* * *

><p><strong>XDXDXDXDXD~nya~<strong>

**"**He's coming!" John announced.

There was a plonk behind the draperies.

**"**Gah!**"**

**"**What's wrong?**"** John hollered in panic.

**"**I've reverted again!**"**

Mai gazed somewhat sadly at the dress and sandals she'd picked and forced Naru to buy. It would be a long time that she'd get to wear them again...

Succussing her head, Mai hurriedly donned her child clothes in the curtain-enclosed space under the stairs. Then she hurried to pour a tea in a cup before the door opened and in came the narcissist. John then entertained him with a prattle of the day's business and earnings and news of Maou's whereabouts, but the lad wasn't totally paying attention to the flames. The enchanter narrowed his eyes at Mai as she served him, and the girl could feel heat creep up her cheeks as she recalled what she did to him.

He had a pail filled with dead fishes nestled near his feet, and Mai wondered if he magically got them. She was about to ask, but...

_Wah! Don't look at me like that!_ she screamed inwardly. Even inside a child's body, her maiden's heart was quite beguiled. His eyes didn't leave her face even when he took the cup and lifted it to his mouth...

Mai gulped as she waited. _Please, please, please work!_

At one sip of the tea, however, the young man averted his eyes and looked quite perplexed.

"What kind of tea is this?"

"Ah um...it's some herbal tea..." Mai lied.

He shrugged and just continued to sip━without looking at her anymore.

She and John glanced at each other before Mai held herself and began, "Um...Papa...about a while ago..."

As though clueless, he raised an eyebrow. "A while ago?"

He was clearly testing her. Teasing perhaps?

Mai couldn't help but blush and cross her fingers behind her. "Well, you know...when we went in a town..."

The enchanter narrowed his eyes. "I haven't gone anywhere yet today."

Mai gasped, and the enchanter raised his brow higher.

"What is it?"

"Nothing!" she squeaked before turning her back to him and facing John.

Unfortunately for the enchanter, if Mai didn't obscure John's figure, he would have seen the thumbs-up exchange of the aforementioned two and might have suspected something.

But, just as said, he was unfortunate not to see.

By and by, Mai approached John and wrote something on a snatched rice paper from nearby and showed it to him.

She had written: _He'll forget forever what happened today, right?_

John nodded and, unseen to the wizard, formed sparks into words in the air as a reply: _Yes, that's what I saw Takigawa's spell can do._

Mai wrote again: _Thanks to you two! If not for those forget-me-not flowers, I would be shamed all my life!_

John scribbled in the air again. _Forget-me flowers, you mean_, he corrected with a smile.

Mai returned the gesture as she threw the paper to him, and it incinerated on his forehead.

"I'll be washing, Papa," she said to Naru, who jounced his head nonchalantly.

So allayed, Mai hopped away to her place under the stairs to get her essentials for a relaxing bath.

* * *

><p><strong>XDXDXDXDXD~nya~<strong>

Unbeknownst to the lady-turned-child-turned-lady-turned-child-_**again**_, a corner of the enchanter's sly mouth had lifted as, on the table, he put down his ornate tea cup...

Which he'd actually, magically emptied before it even touched his lips.

**XDXDXD~nya~**

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Who doth want to forget [a] Mai[den]'s kiss, eh, Naru? ^^

**Naru's daddy training continues next chapter!**

**Terms;**

**akuryō=evil spirit**

**torii=a gate, usually an entrance to shrines**

**shoji=usually a door made with paper**

**mikoshi=a palanquin for gods**

**kami=god**

**ojii-san=grandfather**

**P.S. I haven't edited this yet, but I will later! ^^**


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